Menendez: Extend Payroll Tax Cut Through 2012

Washington - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today released this county-by-county map showing how a failure to extend the 2% payroll tax cut through the end of 2012 will affect the pocketbooks of working families in New Jersey. At the end of December, Congress approved a two-month extension which is set to expire at the end of February. If allowed to expire, the median New Jersey family will see their taxes jump $1,141 due to the 10 months remaining in 2012 in which they would no longer see tax relief.

"At a time when New Jersey working families are struggling to buy gas, groceries and basic necessities, Congress is once again faced with the decision to extend payroll tax cuts for the middle class. This should be a no-brainer," said Menendez. "Yet here we are again - up against the clock -- because some on the other side would rather put Tea Party politics ahead of tax cuts for 160 million ordinary Americans. Just as it was wrong in December, it's wrong now."

Press reports this week indicate that rank-and-file Republicans in both chambers are on the fence over whether Congress should extend the tax break for working families at all, fearing it would help President Obama.

The Congressional Joint Economic Committee (JEC) recently released a report highlighting the critical role the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance benefits play in sustaining the economic recovery. The report titled, "How Continuing the Payroll Tax Cut and Federal UI Benefits Will Help American Families and Support the Recovery," shows that failure to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits through the end of 2012 would hinder the nation's fragile economic recovery in the wake of the recession. Economists of all backgrounds have gone on record saying that failure to extend a payroll tax cut would slow economic growth this year and cost the economy jobs.

Senator Menendez was a co-sponsor of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011 which would have not only extended tax relief through 2012, but would have expanded the pay roll tax cut to 3.1%. This bill was blocked by Senate Republicans. The bipartisan compromise to extend the current tax cuts for two-months, which was supported by 90% of the Senate, passed late December, after House Republicans reluctantly voted to end their grandstanding.

New Jersey county-by-county numbers released by the JEC are below

Click Here for an interactive map

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