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Unemployment taxes slam businesses
By Tami Luhby, senior writerFebruary 9, 2010: 4:18 AM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers are getting hit with a massive tax hike at a
time when they can least afford it.

Companies in at least 35 states will have to fork over more in unemployment insurance
taxes this year, according to the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

The median increase will be 27.5%. And employers in places such as Hawaii and Florida
could see levies skyrocket more than ten-fold.



Many of these hikes happened automatically as prolonged joblessness triggered state
laws governing their unemployment insurance systems. But at least seven states voted
to raise their taxable wage bases, the level of income subject to unemployment tax. And
another 10 are looking at upping the wage bases or tax rates.

The states are scrambling to restore their unemployment insurance trust funds, which
cover claims.

State trust funds have been decimated by the Great Recession, forcing a record 26
states to borrow a total of more than $30 billion from the federal government. The
numbers are expected to grow to 40 states borrowing $90 billion by 2012, said George
Wentworth, policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project.


http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/09/news...axes/index.htm

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