Billions Spent on Unemployment Will Mean Higher Employer Taxes

State unemployment agencies have borrowed $32 billion and counting from the U.S. Treasury to pay record-high jobless benefits claimed during the coronavirus pandemic. Repaying that debt is likely to involve raising the unemployment taxes that employers pay.

Some businesses could see tax increases as soon as 2021, as states look to replenish their depleted unemployment trust funds and begin repaying the Treasury loans. Employers also will see automatic increases in federal unemployment taxes if states haven’t repaid their 2020 Treasury loans by a November 2022 deadline.

The likely tax increases represent one of many ways businesses will have to help ...