Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin suggested Sunday that unless President Donald Trump is reelected, all Americans who took advantage of payroll tax reductions must be paid back to the government.
What We Know:
- White House negotiators and democratic congressional leaders met several times to discuss a coronavirus relief package before President Trump took executive action yesterday. This would delay financial assistance to millions of Americans. Trump also defended the drop in unemployment benefits from $600 a week to $400.
- Mnuchin met with Chris Wallace for a brief interview on FOX Sunday, following the actions of Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reaction to steps taken over the weekend. They confirmed that the president’s latest executive action on the matter of pandemic relief was not a tax cut, but rather a payroll tax suspension.
Wallace noted, “Isn’t there a danger that a lot of businesses won’t pass these saving through to workers because they’re going to hold on to the money because at some point, according to this executive action by the end of the year, those payroll taxes are going to be have to be paid anyway?”
- Mnuchin’s rebuttal to Wallace’s remark reiterated the fact the President was heavily inclined towards the idea of a payroll tax cut. He explained that they could go the route of a payroll tax deferral and that Trump would later tell the American people “that when he’s reelected, he will push through legislation to forgive that so, in essence, it will turn into a payroll tax cut”.
- From his country club in New Jersey Saturday, Trump signed the executive orders that were met with considerable resistance from both Democrats and Republicans, as they regarded the move as unconstitutional.
- Wallace also brought up the ongoing issue of whether these executive actions would cause a reduction in Medicare or Social Security benefits.
- In regards to Social Security and Medicare, Mnuchin stated that wasn’t going to be the case, with little to no other evidence. He did say, however, that there “would be an automatic contribution from the general fund to those trusts funds. The president in no way wants to harm those trust funds.”
What minimal argument Mnuchin had over Trump’s proposed payroll tax suspension appears that it will not negatively affect Social Security. It was an issue that many Democrats, including the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, previously had.
