On Saturday Donald Trump claimed he would impose (apparently by some hidden appropriations power that he does not Constitutionally possess) a “payroll tax holiday,” which would purportedly defer the payroll tax for certain employed Americans through December, as a means of financial assistance for individuals and families coping with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. This action appears patently illegal, as the power to levy taxes or change the tax code resides in the Congress under Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, but let’s for the moment pretend it is legal and Trump does have the authority to declare such a “holiday” through the end of the year.
All of this means is exactly what his “order” says–that the taxes are deferred through December. As Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo points out here, those taxes are still due next year, and in fact many workers would find themselves socked with exorbitant and unexpected tax bills next year assuming their employers don’t choose to simply withhold the tax themselves, since they’re responsible for seeing that it gets paid.
As noted here by Rocky Mengle of Kiplinger: Continue reading.