Krueger Calls Payroll Tax Cut ‘Medicine’ to Sustain Recovery

Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Obama administration economic adviser Alan Krueger said extending a temporary cut in payroll taxes would provide “more medicine” to sustain the U.S. economic recovery.

“This is a critical time for the economy,” Krueger, chairman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said at a White House briefing. The administration is seeking to press Congress to extend the tax cuts before they expire Dec. 31.

A vote against an extension would mean a $1,000 tax increase on a family making $50,000 a year, he said, at a time when the economy faces “weak aggregate demand” that is putting a drag on growth.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net