Boehner: Payroll Tax Grinch?

My view: The payroll tax cut was a mistake a year ago (my comments last year). Social security has its own problems and underfunding it is not wise. We did appreciate the 2% cut and we did save it. The 2% payroll tax cut was intended to be temporary. I doubt it did much to stimulate the economy but the reality is that letting the payroll tax cut expire is in effect a tax increase for every American worker. The Wall Street Journal opinions that Boehner has misplayed this: "Republicans ... failed to put together a unified House and Senate strategy." The New York Times reports that "the House Republicans’ attempts to seize the political high ground by advocating for a full-year payroll tax cut are undercut by their shifting stands in the months leading up to the showdown". Politico sees that the Republicans lack a "carefully scripted drama" and asks "has John Boehner lost control?"

Businesses don't like short term tax fixes: Payroll Executives Complain About Lawmakers' Penchant for Brief Fixes and Small Employers Fret Over Payroll-Tax Uncertainty. For the average worker payroll tax means thousands in savings

Conclusion: Advantage Obama! For another advantage to Obama consider George Will's comments:

Atop the Republican ticket, Gingrich would guarantee Barack Obama’s reelection, would probably doom Republicans’ hopes of capturing the Senate and might cost them control of the House. If so, Gingrich would at last have achieved something — wreckage, but something — proportional to his swollen sense of himself.