President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday that he's been "thinking about" whether to pursue a payroll tax cut, despite the White House formally denying a Washington Post report that cutting payroll taxes is under consideration.
The big picture: Discussions over cutting the payroll tax, which currently sits at 6.2% and is used to fund Social Security and Medicare, are part of a broader White House effort to stem fears of a coming recession — though Trump insisted to reporters that "whether or not we do it now, it's not being done because of recession." Sources tell Axios' Jonathan Swan that Trump is "running out of tools" to juice the economy, with an economic slowdown looking increasingly likely ahead of the 2020 election.
https://www.axios.com/trump-payroll-tax-cut-a835ae74-af74-4de5-816e-9dc68f27717e.html
Just wanted to point out that federal payroll taxes are 7.65%, paid by both employer and employee. the 6.2% quoted above is strictly for social security. An additional 1.45% is for medicare.
If you're self employed, you get to pay both sides, or 15.3%, based on your net profits up to the earnings limit for SS.
I have little doubt that employers will get any break should the payroll tax be cut.
Other posters raise valid points. I'm leery of cuts here due to the unfunded liabilities in SS and Medicare. Interest rates are still below historical norms, and the economy continues to be juiced by trillion dollar deficits.