Or the employer could just keep it. As the article states, there's nothing that will compel them to pass that money along, and when they suddenly enjoy a windfall to their bottom line that comes from having their payroll costs go down by several percent, it's going to be hard for them to give it up.
It's similar to the offshoring of manufacturing. A hiking boot company changed their production from Italy to China a few years ago. Their labor costs dropped considerably. Has the customer reaped any benefit? Just the opposite: the price has remained the same while the quality has suffered. Eventually the brand equity they built up over years will erode, but in the meantime their stockholders and senior executives will cash in.
and if the employee is a good employee - guess what? the next employer vying for his labor will increase his wages to attact him!
Geez! are you people so ignorant of free market economics not to grasp this?
yes...and the mean old employer could reduce you to minimum wage too.....
Good Grief!
The market sets the wage!!!
The point is that the payroll tax results in an employee taking home 15% less money than he otherwise could were it not for the tax.