35 year old temporary surtax ends today!
Friday, July 1, 2011 at 4:24PM Today marks the end of a "temporary" 0.2% Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA) surtax. This surtax was originally created as a "temporary" surtax to replenish Federal coffers for unemployment benefit payments made during the 1973-1975 recession. Although the repayment was completed in 1987, Congress has seen fit to extend the surtax eight times to the present. Since 1987, the surtax has raised an additional $46 billion (adjusted for inflation) above and beyond the needed revenue in 1976.
As Way and Means Comittee Chairman Dave Camp said, "The fact that it has taken 35-years for this ‘temporary’ tax to expire clearly illustrates the dangers of higher taxes – once in place, they are unlikely to ever go away."
You can learn more about it here.