Here comes the Rick Perry unemployment tax increase that we’ve been waiting for.
Nearly two-thirds of Texas businesses will see the unemployment taxes they pay per employee per year nearly triple – from $23.40 to $64.80 – under rates announced today by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The minimum tax is paid by nearly 255,000 employers, or 67 percent of those who have been in business for at least a year, according to the commission.
[…]
The tax rate is being increased to repay federal loans and ensure the fund has enough money to pay claims in the coming year.
The rate is based on $9,000 in taxable wages. The minimum rate is going from 0.26 percent to 0.72 percent.
The maximum rate — generally paid by companies if they have had more employees who were laid off and got benefits — is going from 6.26 percent to 8.6 percent, or from $563.40 per employee to $774.
Schweet. Just remember, while the bulk of the fuss over this will be concerning the $555 million in unemployment insurance that Perry refused, he also contributed to this problem by suspending the collection of this tax back when it was more affordable for businesses to pay it. Because of that, they get the increased burden now when times are hard. Of course, that’s the way Bill Hammond of the TAB says they say they like it, which should stand as evidence why business lobbyists make lousy economists. Be that as it may, if you’re an employer, when you sit down to write that bigger check to the state, remember to thank Governor Perry for the privilege of paying it.
If Bill White does not win the Texas Governor’s race, we deserve to become a third world state.
Must be a southern thing. Unemployment compensation is to preserve a skilled workforce during economic hard times. Reich wingers talk about unemployment compensation as if it were some sort of welfare.
Why do people vote against their own interests?
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