Regardless of what happens as a result of the current crisis of the week in Congress Chattooga County payrolls have taken a tumble.  With only a whimper at the year-end compromise between the President and Congress the average paycheck worker in the United States took a direct hit with the restoration of the payroll tax cut. 

Rates increased from 4.85% back to 6.85% for FICA (Social Security). Chattooga County Chamber of Commerce Director David Tidmore said "I'm not going to address the merits of restoring this tax, but it comes at a very bad time for a struggling economy in bad need of the consumer to lead the way out of the Great Recession"  Tidmore outlined the impact below:

Impact of restoration of 2% on payroll taxes for Chattooga County:

Total Employed Workers (1/1/13)                   9268

Average Weekly Wage (all industries)               $554

Total Weekly Wages in Chattooga Co     $5,134,472

Cost to Payrolls in Chattooga County:

2% tax increase    (weekly)                            $102,689

                             (monthly)                            $410,758

By March 8 Chattooga County workers will have lost $1,026,890 since the beginning of 2013

This is the equivalent of losing 185 jobs

Which adds 1.76% to our unemployment rate

that stood at 12.8% at the end of 2012

Making our equivalent rate at 14.58%

This is a loss of over $5,000,000 to pay checks in 2013!