Payroll tax increases for employers

In 2009, the average business owner paid $95 per employee. This year, the tax will be $171, according to estimates by the state workforce agency. "It's another added expense to hiring somebody," Miller says. "Everything's going up, and business is going down."

Similar tax increases are hitting employers nationwide this year as states struggle to pay the 5.5 million Americans currently collecting state jobless benefits. So far, high unemployment and, in many cases, poor planning have prompted 25 states to borrow more than $25 billion from the federal government to keep benefit checks in the mail.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-01-19-unemployment_N.htm

The unemployment insurance system is supposed to help stimulate the economy.

But, in a time of near record unemployment, we're boosting payroll taxes on employers.

Effectively, we are discouraging employers from adding to their payrolls.