Working Poor Lose Ground Under the Tax Compromise

When President Obama defended his tax cut compromise with the Republican Party, he insisted that he was helping working people avoid taking a pay cut. "I'm focused on making sure that tens of millions of hardworking Americans are not seeing their paychecks shrink on Jan. 1, just because the folks here in Washington are busy trying to score political points," Obama said.

But as tax experts look at the proposal more closely, it has become clear that the working poor will actually end up losing money under the new arrangement.

"Single working people with earnings below $20,000 and married couples with earnings below $40,000 are worse off under the payroll tax cut proposals in the compromise between the president and the Republicans," explains Bob Williams, a senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Policy Center.

www.dailyfinance.com/story/taxes/working-poor-pay-more-obama-gop-tax-compromise/19752400/?icid=fbuzz|working-poor-pay-more-obama-gop-tax-compromise/19752400/