Senate Blocks Payroll Tax Cut Extension With Millionaire Surtax

Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate rejected a Democratic proposal to extend a payroll tax cut to 2012 for workers and cover the cost by imposing a 3.25 percent surtax on individual income exceeding $1 million a year.

Tonight’s 51-49 vote fell short of the 60 votes that were needed to advance the legislation. The tax cut, which lowered a worker’s share of the Social Security payroll tax from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for 2011, is slated to expire Dec. 31 unless Congress acts.

--Editors: Jodi Schneider, Jim Rubin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Sloan in Washington at ssloan7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net