Payroll tax deferral bill fails unanimous Senate hurdle – By Jessie Bur (Federal Times) / Dec 4 2020
Legislation that would make President Donald Trump’s payroll tax deferral plan optional for federal employees and members of the military received opposition on the Senate floor Dec. 3, preventing a proposed unanimous consent passage and pushing the potential for enactment timeline further back.
The Preventing Employees from Surprise Taxes Act was originally introduced Oct. 9, shortly after the tax deferral was slated to go into effect, and received bicameral and bipartisan support.
“Most private sector employers didn’t participate and their employees and workers didn’t want them to participate. Unfortunately, the one big exception to this have been members of our armed forces, the folks who every day stand guard to protect our country, and federal employees who do the nation’s business with respect to important services they provide,” said bill cosponsor Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., on the Senate floor.
“And as the private sector has rejected this, we’ve heard from thousands of federal employees who say, ‘we don’t want to participate either.’ We’ve heard from members of the armed forces that say, ‘we don’t want to be used as guinea pigs and required to participate.’ So I want to be really clear that if we don’t correct this, the damage will continue to be done, and these members of our armed forces and federal employees will be forced to pay even more back after the holidays.”
