Question

In: Economics

Prior to 2011, the Social Security payroll tax was 6.2% taken from workers pay and 6.2% paid by employers (total 12.4%).

Prior to 2011, the Social Security payroll tax was 6.2% taken from workers pay and 6.2% paid by employers (total 12.4%). The Tax Relief Act (2010) reduced the workers portion from 6.2% to 4.2% in 2011, but left the employers portion at 6.2%. 

a) Should this change have increased the typical workers take-home pay by exactly 2%, more than 2%, or less than 2%? Do any elasticities affect your answer? Explain. 

b) Who gets the bigger share of this tax cut, workers or employers? How do elasticities determine the answer?

Solutions

Expert Solution

a) As long as both the supply of labor and the demand of labor have price elasticity greater than zero, the cut in taxation will be shared by employers and workers, which means that take- home pay of workers’ will increase less than 2%. The answer would not be depending on whether demand of labor is less or more elastic than labor supply


b) When demand for labor is more elastic than supply of labor, then the workers get larger share of the tax cut compared to the employers
When demand for labor is less elastic than supply of labor, then the employers get more of the tax cut compared to the workers


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