Obama wants to raise the tax on jobs

By K.E. Campbell

Unemployment too high? Increase the cost of employees. Yeah, that's the ticket.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Barack Obama's proposed budget for fiscal 2012 --expected to be released on Monday -- will include a scheme to raise payroll taxes commencing in 2014. The plan would raise "the amount of wages on which companies must pay unemployment taxes to $15,000, more than double the $7,000 in place since 1983."

The goal of the President's plan is to replenish the coffers of states' unemployment-insurance trust funds, which have been depleted by Obamanomics. The WSJ reports that approximately 30 states have borrowed $42.4 billion from the federal government to pay unemployment insurance, as of early this month.

The administration estimates that the tax increase would extract an additional $100 billion from businesses over the next decade.

At the federal level, unemployment insurance is administered by the Department of Labor. The DOL's budget in the current fiscal year is approximately $14 billion, excluding unemployment insurance benefits paid. (In January, an AT blog post chronicled the DOL's wasteful energy consumption practices.)

Perusing the DOL's website left me wondering what country I live in. Below is the alphabet soup of "Agencies and Offices" prominently listed on the DOL homepage. Is it any mystery why we are a nation in decline?

Administrative Review Board (ARB)

Benefits Review Board (BRB)

Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP)

Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)

Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD)

Employment & Training Administration (ETA)

Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA)

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)

Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ)

Office of Congressional & Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA)

Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)

Office of Inspector General (OIG)

Office of Job Corps (OJC)

Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)

Office of Public Engagement (OPE)

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration & Management (OASAM)

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP)

Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)

Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

Office of the Secretary (OSEC)

Office of the Solicitor (SOL)

Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)

Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD)

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

Veterans' Employment & Training Service (VETS)

Wage & Hour Division (WHD)

Women's Bureau (WB)

Not included above are related yet independent federal agencies, each with its own budget, such as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). (As of now, there is no Ministry of Labor Propaganda.)

One DOL division alone (WHD) has 200 offices across the country where "trained professionals" are standing by ready to help people file complaints in connection with an enforcement and public-awareness campaign launched by DOL in 2010. Dubbed "We Can Help," the campaign is an "effort to educate workers across the United States of their rights" under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Campaign posters (in English as well as Chinese, Hmong, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese) are available for download here. In late 2009, related to this campaign, WHD hired an additional 250 new wage and hour investigators - an increase of one-third. The WHD, according to the DOL, ensures that "workers in this country are paid properly and for all the hours they work, regardless of immigration status."

For your convenience, the DOL provides a webpage about the "Affordable Care Act" and its multitude of burdensome regulations and employer mandates. No reference is shown to a federal judge's recent ruling wherein the Act was deemed unconstitutional.

Ronald Reagan famous quipped:

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'"

Congressional Republicans looking for places to cut the federal deficit should get out sharp utensils and take a very close look at the DOL's annual budget.