>> After further prodding - including a reminder that
>> a provision of the stimulus bill had cut taxes for
>> 95 percent of working families by changing withholding
>> rates - Mr. Paratore's memory was jogged.
>
> No, you're *not* right, you're dead wrong. Changing
> withholding rates has no effect on taxes--it just means
> that on April 15 you get less of a refund or pay more tax.
> Your annual tax bill is absolutely unchanged. Like
> everything from Obama, a barefaced lie.
Thanks for playing the home game, but this is a mistake by the NY Times ("Shocked, just shocked!"); the actual tax cut is known as the Making Work Pay Credit, and it's 6.2% of earned income (effectively rebating FICA) up to $400 (about the first $6500 of income). Despite the seemingly small number, it's a huge win: payroll taxes are very regressive.
Plenty of other real tax cuts for the middle-class-and-lower happened in 2009: the EIC went up this year (unlike, say, COLA). The first $2400 of unemployment insurance payments is tax-free. COBRA subsidies are 2/3 tax-free. Even if you think things like Cash For Clunkers don't count (I'm not one of those) or first-time homebuyers credits (meh), these are real. These are not "lies" ...
/jordan