ECONOMY/TARIFFS/TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “White House officials have begun preparing options to help bolster the American economy and prevent it from falling into a recession, including mulling a potential payroll tax cut and a possible reversal of some of President Trump’s tariffs, according to people familiar with the discussions…Officials inside the administration have drafted a white paper exploring a payroll tax reduction, which would seek to boost the economy by immediately injecting more money into workers’ paychecks. In 2011 and 2012, the Obama administration employed a two-year payroll tax cut in an effort to stimulate what was a sluggish recovery from the recession that ended in 2009. The payroll tax discussion was first reported Monday [8-19-19] by The Washington Post. Such a cut would require congressional approval. Administration officials said the idea had not been pushed with Mr. Trump and tried to tamp talk of it down.”
–Maggie Haberman, Jim Tankersley and Annie Karni, “Trump Administration Considers Moves to Bolster Economy,” The New York Times online, August 19, 2019