Personal Finance Buzz

American employees enjoyed an unexpected 2% pay increase in 2011 when the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 implemented a temporary Social Security payroll tax cut in January 2011. The payroll tax cut reduced the social security tax for working Americans from 6.2 to 4.2 percent – a 2 percentage reduction in the tax rate. This was a welcomed pay increase for millions of Americans.