Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today welcomed a legislative provision he helped secure in the upcoming omnibus spending bill to alleviate the burden on federal workers and military families of repaying payroll taxes previously withheld under President Trump’s executive order. The provision would extend the time period for repayment of payroll taxes to the end of 2021, thereby significantly reducing the impact on paychecks for those who had such taxes withheld.

Beyer represents the largest number of federal employees of any U.S. Representative and serves on the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, which has jurisdiction over tax policy.

“Our payroll tax fix will help lessen the damage of Donald Trump’s payroll tax scam for military families and civil servants by minimizing the drop they see in individual paychecks. I thank the Ways and Means Committee staff for their work on this provision and for making it a priority in negotiations,” said Beyer. “Trump’s promises of enhanced government paychecks were a lie, just as we warned, ultimately to be paid back after the election. Of course, Trump immediately dropped any pretense of using this policy to help people after Election Day. Now military families and federal workers will see that repayment spread across a much larger number of pay periods, minimizing their short-term decrease in income. In passing this payroll tax fix Congress is beginning the great task of cleaning up Donald Trump’s mess, and we have so much more of that work to do.”

Beyer was an outspoken critic of the Administration’s mandatory payroll tax deferrals for the military and civil service, and an earlier supporter of legislation to block the policy.

Text of the provision extending the repayment period for deferred payroll taxes is contained in Section 274 (page 2003) of the Rules Committee print of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.