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 Legislators in seven states have introduced bills that would give local news operations tax incentives, such as a tax credit for a subscription to a local newspaper or a payroll tax credit for hiring journalists. Paul Farhi, Washington Post, 7 Sep. 2023 Social Security is funded by a payroll tax of 12.4% on wages split equally between workers and employers. Andrew Rettenmaier, The Conversation, 1 June 2023 Increase payroll taxes for Social Security The payroll tax, which goes to Social Security and Medicare is 15.3%, and that tax burden is evenly split evenly between employers and employees. Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2023 The real reason that Social Security may need more funding is that wealthier Americans aren’t paying their fair share of the payroll tax that funds most benefits. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2023 At some point, the payroll tax is likely to be imposed on those making more than $400,000 annually. Bob Carlson, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2023 That’s raising or eliminating the payroll tax cap, which reduces the tax on wage income over $160,200 (this year) to zero. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2023 Beyond that, Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan think thank estimates that UAW members lost $835 million in wages during the strike and federal and state income and payroll tax collections were nearly $350 million. Chris Isidore, CNN, 5 July 2023 Another option is to raise the payroll tax rate slightly, which could also cover some of the solvency issues. Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 5 May 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'payroll tax.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Payroll tax.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payroll%20tax. Accessed 24 Sep. 2023.

Legal Definition

payroll tax

noun
pay·​roll tax
: a tax that is levied as a percentage of an employee's pay and is usually paid by the employer
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