Deferred taxes

[RTH10260]

Trump wanted a quick tax break. His appointees are now stuck with big bills.
They've been ordered to immediately repay months of payroll taxes that had been deferred under a bid by Trump to boost the economy ahead of last year’s elections.

By BRIAN FALER and DANIEL LIPPMAN
05/27/2021 04:30 AM EDT

Many of former President Donald Trump's political appointees got a nasty surprise when they left the government: A big tax bill.

They've been ordered to immediately repay months of payroll taxes that had been deferred under a bid by Trump to boost the economy ahead of last year’s elections — levies he had assured them would later be forgiven.


“If the indebtedness is not paid in full within 30 calendar days, we intend to forward this debt to the Department of Treasury, Treasury offset program, for further collection,” reads one letter to a former White House official, demanding she pay $1,500.

That has left some shocked and angry.

One former official called her $1,300 bill “unacceptable,” saying she and her colleagues “gave our time and effort to this agency and this is how we’re getting paid back.”

Said another, asked to pay almost $1,200: “It’s just a very unfortunate situation.”

It’s a little-noticed addendum to Trump’s much-criticized plan last summer to prime the economy.

In August, he issued an executive order allowing employers to put off paying their workers’ share of the 12.4 percent Social Security tax for the rest of the year. The idea was to boost consumer spending by putting more money in the pockets of millions.

But the initiative was widely rejected by private sector employers, in part because they feared workers would be unprepared to pay the money back.

It was mandatory, though, for federal employees making less than $4,000 per biweekly paycheck, and the government began implementing it in September.

Trump said many times he expected Congress to eventually forgive the debts. Lawmakers didn’t do that, though they did agree to give people more time to pay the money back. While the IRS had initially wanted the money paid back this year between January and the end of April — matching the four-month length of the deferral — Congress agreed to give people this entire year to repay it.

For current federal employees, the taxes are now being incrementally withheld from their paychecks.

Often overlooked, though, were people who left the government because they quit or retired — but, perhaps more likely, because they were political appointees who had to leave with Trump’s defeat.


https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/2 ... ral-491017

[raison de arizona]

But the initiative was widely rejected by private sector employers, in part because they feared workers would be unprepared to pay the money back.

It was a stupid program. Who defunds social security? Trump does, that's who. Well, tries to, at least. It was pretty clear that it wasn't going to get forgiven from the get-go. Although I suppose had Trump been re-elected and the Repugs taken the House and Senate, we'd be having a different conversation.

It was mandatory, though, for federal employees making less than $4,000 per biweekly paycheck, and the government began implementing it in September.

Nice plan, screw over middle class federal employees. What a dick. I wondered what became of this, thanks for posting.

[Slim Cognito]

Payback really is a bitch.

[Sunrise]

Just another one of the brilliant ideas from the smartest guy in the world, thinking only of what might be helpful to him at the moment. I expect that this too will be sluffed off by his MAGAts, even those who are directly affected.

I guess it’s a good sign, but I honestly don’t remember thinking about DFO that often any more. In fact, I had to struggle to recall the DFO part.

[noblepa]

But the initiative was widely rejected by private sector employers, in part because they feared workers would be unprepared to pay the money back.

It was a stupid program. Who defunds social security? Trump does, that's who. Well, tries to, at least. It was pretty clear that it wasn't going to get forgiven from the get-go. Although I suppose had Trump been re-elected and the Repugs taken the House and Senate, we'd be having a different conversation.

It was mandatory, though, for federal employees making less than $4,000 per biweekly paycheck, and the government began implementing it in September.

Nice plan, screw over middle class federal employees. What a dick. I wondered what became of this, thanks for posting.

This is like the time when Bush Sr. was looking ahead to the 1992 election. He lowered the WITHHOLDING rate, but not the underlying tax rate. That meant that less was withheld from my paycheck, but come April, 1993 (after the election) I and a lot of other people got a surprise. Since less had been withheld, for the first time in my life, I had to write a check to the Treasury when I filed my 1040.

It wasn't really a surprise, at least to me, because I understood what he had done when he did it. I told myself to file a new W-4 with my employer, to have them withhold the extra amount necessary, but I never got around to it. A lot of people didn't understand and were very unhappy in April.

Like Trump's plan, it was a blatant ploy to help win re-election. It didn't work in either case.