payroll tax
noun
1
: a tax that is paid by a company and that is based on the amount of money that the company spends paying all of its employees
2
: money that is taken from a person's pay and given directly to the government as income tax
Examples of payroll tax in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
How close will the Giants get to the payroll tax threshold?
—
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
As the California Business Roundtable recently noted in a report, the state’s employers will soon pay a 5.2% payroll tax — nearly nine times as much as those in other states that are debt-free — plus their state payroll taxes.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2025
The government can raise revenues by increasing the payroll tax that funds Social Security or the income threshold to continue paying the tax or raise the full retirement age.
—Medora Lee, USA Today, 5 Oct. 2025
That can mean lifting or eliminating the payroll tax cap, taxing some forms of capital income, or other approaches.
—Dan Doonan, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for payroll tax
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Andrew Baggarly, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
As the California Business Roundtable recently noted in a report, the state’s employers will soon pay a 5.2% payroll tax — nearly nine times as much as those in other states that are debt-free — plus their state payroll taxes.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2025
The government can raise revenues by increasing the payroll tax that funds Social Security or the income threshold to continue paying the tax or raise the full retirement age.
—Medora Lee, USA Today, 5 Oct. 2025
That can mean lifting or eliminating the payroll tax cap, taxing some forms of capital income, or other approaches.
—Dan Doonan, Forbes.com, 15 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for payroll tax
Cite this Entry
“Payroll tax.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payroll%20tax. Accessed 21 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share