11 Apr 1997 Speech of National Center Vice President David Ridenour at a Press Conference on the Tax-Deductibility of Payroll Taxes

Statement of David Ridenour
Vice President
Press Conference on Making the Payroll Tax Tax-Deductible
U.S. Senate “Swamp”
April 11, 1997
This proposal is an important step in the direction of tax fairness. Since corporations can deduct their half of the payroll tax, simple fairness dictates that workers should be able to do so, too. Furthermore, it is grotesquely unfair to force workers to pay income taxes, as we do now, on money workers never get to see, spend or invest.

This proposal is also important in that it will help end the take-home pay stagnation that has afflicted America’s working families since the 1993 and 1990 tax increases, as it would reduce taxes by $1770 for the mean income two-earner family and by $500 for median income two-earner families.

We are also pleased that workers who do not itemize deductions on their income tax forms will still be eligible for this tax deduction. Many Americans, particularly those from disadvantaged communities and those without home mortgages, do not itemize their deductions, and they should not have to do so in order to avoid being unfairly penalized by the tax system.