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Former White House economic advisor pushes for extension of payroll tax cut

Posted on October 15th, 2012 Read time: 1 minutes

In December, payroll management may have a new problem with which to deal: the expiration of a two-year-old tax cut.

However, some experts are advocating for the payroll tax cut to be extended. Former White House economic advisor Lawrence Summers called on Congress to keep the tax, explaining that it has and will continue to boost jobs and give households more money to spend in the market, The Wall Street Journal reports.

"This is not the right moment to repeal the payroll tax cut," Summers said in a speech to the Center for American Progress. "$120 billion put in the hands of middle-income families is $120 billion injected into the economy."

According to the paper, Summers' comments are particularly of note because there has been little partisan wrangling over whether to extend the payroll tax cut into 2013. The issue could be revisited after the election, though.

Without the extension, the payroll tax would return to 6.2 percent from its current 4.2 percent.

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