At the end of this month, a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut will expire. If Congress doesn't act, taxes will go up on 160 million hardworking Americans.
For a family making about $50,000 a year, the payroll tax cut amounts to about $1,000 a year, or about $40 in every paycheck. When the payroll tax cut was initially set to expire last December, we asked Americans to tell us what that $40 meant to them and their family. People all over the country responded, using email, Twitter, and Facebook, to tell us that $40 makes all the difference in the world for a family trying to stretch their already tight budget a little bit further.
These are some of their stories:
"As a teacher, $40 a month means not being able to provide the fun things in teaching my students. Already Congress has taken away the $250 teacher tax exemption (which was not enough to begin with, not by about $1000) but now you want to add another $40 a month to my payroll tax? This picture is from our end of novel study for How To Eat Fried Worms. The celebration was completely funded by me, the teacher. I made my students "worms" and "dirt" cake which for 60+ students cost me about $50. This tax will be the end of me doing anything like this for my class. I already can't afford to provide paper, pencils, art supplies etc for my students, and can only do the really special extras that I feel will really benefit my students." — Patricia from Georgia
Fonte: White House