Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL.) said Sunday that Congress should allow the 2010 payroll tax cuts expire, as opposed to coming up with a bipartisan plan to extend the tax cuts.
The Illinois Republican appeared on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” program Sunday to give his views on the expiring payroll tax cuts which Republicans and Democrats have been unable to agree upon in recent weeks.
“It is the right policy because one of the lessons of Europe is that you can’t run retirement security programs without contributions to retirement security,” Mr. Kirk said Sunday. “Seniors have enough to worry about as it is without the Congress voting on a bipartisan basis to undermine contributions to Social Security.”
Mr. Kirk compared the Democratic plan which proposes a tax surcharge on the wealthiest Americans to the previous Republican backed plan which he claims would take until 2018 to recover from the losses that would occur to the “Social Security Trust Fund.”
The freshman Illinois senator voted four times this year against proposals to extend the payroll tax cut which he described as a “$260 billion whack” to Social Security. In 2010 the payroll tax rate was reduced from 6.2 percent to 4.1 percent, and the Obama administration wants it reduced to 3.1 percent with the new extension.
The bill would also include an extension of unemployment benefits and would prevent a reduction in government funding for Medicare reimbursement payments to doctors.
House Republicans introduced a bill on Friday that would also include an expedited of the Keystone XL pipeline project, which Mr. Kirk agrees with fellow Republicans would create thousands of jobs for American workers and reduce America’s dependency on foreign oil.
The Illinois Republican also argued that American citizens have not been properly informed about all the details regarding the extension of the payroll tax cuts. He credited President Barack Obama for politically influencing the issue, and disguising it as a benefit for middle class Americans while not informing them how much harm it would due to the Social Security Trust Fund.
“You call it a payroll tax deduction which is the White House political code word,” Mr. Kirk said during the C-SPAN interview.
“In the past we called this contributions to Social Security, and that’s what they were called under the Roosevelt administration. It only became the payroll tax reduction two years ago when the White House decided to use Social Security as a cash cow for economic stimulus,” Mr. Kirk added.
Also on Sunday, the president and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio.) presented their opposing reasons for extending the payroll tax cuts. Mr Boehner wants the Keystone XL pipeline project included in the plan to extend the payroll tax cut.
Mr. Kirk opposes both leaders in his view that working class Americans would be better off contributing to the Social Security Trust Fund. He voted in favor of the tax cut in 2010, but stated that he believed it was only going to be necessary for one year.
“We were told at the time, that this was a one year party,” Mr. Kirk said referring to the 2010 implementation of the payroll tax reduction.
“Now, under political times, even when the White House claims that the economy is growing they want to have another $250 billion party on the backs of the Social Security Trust Fund,” Mr. Kirk added.
