Jack Mintz argues politicians should stop looking for “magic bullets that don’t exist”
Policy makers in the U.S. are scrambling to solve the country’s economic woes. A low-cost policy that generates lots of jobs and boosts growth could be their saving grace. But this policy is not cuts to payroll taxes, Jack Mintz writes in his latest Financial Post column.
Payroll tax cuts such as the one seen last year (from 6.2% to 4.2%) did little for employment numbers and new-hire subsidies would cost the U.S. government money they simply don’t have.
Mintz points out that Canada should also consider the ineffectiveness of payroll tax credits, given the last federal budget included a new-hire tax credit to create jobs.