7 DETAILS
1) Payroll tax cut. The central item is the payroll tax extension and expansion. Let's explain that. Normally, you would pay 6.2 percent of your wages in taxes. In 2011, you paid only 4.2 percent, thanks to a compromise reached in December. But in 2012, according to the president's plan, you would pay a tax on only 3.2 percent of your wages. That comes out to nearly a 50 percent tax cut on work, worth about $1,500 per year for a typical worker.
2) Incentives to hire. The president: "Small businesses will get a tax cut if they hire new workers or raise workers' wages. It's a fine idea, but not revolutionary." Passed in 2010, the HIRE Act already gave tax breaks to businesses who hired previously unemployed workers
3) A tax credit to hire the long-term unemployed. The president: "Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get a $4,000 tax credit if they hire anyone who has spent more than six months looking for a job."
4) Extending unemployment insurance for another year.
5) A tax credit to hire veterans. The president: "Pass this jobs bill, and companies will get extra tax credits if they hire America's veterans."
6) Housing help. The president: "To help responsible homeowners, we're going to work with Federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4% -- a step that can put more than $2,000 a year in a family's pocket, and give a lift to an economy still burdened by the drop in housing prices."
7) Deficit Reduction through tax reform and spending reductions that include Medicare and Medicaid: The president: "In addition to the trillion dollars of spending cuts I've already signed into law, it's a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by making additional spending cuts; by making modest adjustments to health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid; and by reforming our tax code in a way that asks the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. What's more, the spending cuts wouldn't happen so abruptly that they'd be a drag on our economy, or prevent us from helping small business and middle-class families get back on their feet right away."
