Trump revives call for payroll tax cuts in ‘phase four’ coronavirus relief package
April 10, 2020 / By Tyler Olson | Fox News
President Trump on Friday renewed his calls for a broad payroll tax cut as a way to ease the economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic after he had previously called for such cuts last month.
The CARES Act, the official name of the $2.2 trillion economic stimulus and virus-fighting legislation passed late last month, does allow for employers to defer their payroll tax payments but does not actually cut the levies, which are largely used to fund entitlements like Medicare and Social Security.
“Democrats are blocking a 251 Billion Dollar funding boost for Small Businesses which will help them keep their employees,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “It should be for only that reason, with no additions. We should have a big Infrastructure Phase Four with Payroll Tax Cuts & more. Big Economic Bounceback!”
The president was referring in part to an interim bill to boost a small business loan fund that Senate Democrats blocked Thursday, instead seeking additional funding that GOP lawmakers rejected. But aside from that, lawmakers and Trump are weighing another much larger package in which the president also wants to include infrastructure spending.
