Carbon County has officially opted out of the payroll tax deferral that was issued by President Donald Trump last month.

Trump’s action allowed employers to defer workers’ 6.2% Social Security tax until the end of the year but then need to repay it in the first quarter of 2021.

The motion to authorize opting out of the deferral retroactive to Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 was approved 2-1 with Commissioner Chris Lukasevich casting a no vote.

He said that his vote was because he does not believe in government interfering unduly with personal choice and taking away a person’s right to determine the level of risk they want to assume.

“None of us commissioners have the slightest idea of the financial situation of our employees, so what right, moral or otherwise, do we have to limit their option to stay afloat financially? I say, none. It is their money, their choice, their consequences to address,” he said in an email Friday morning.

The action was tabled last week after Lukasevich asked for an extra week to allow time to investigate whether the money that would be deferred could be held in escrow until questions could be answered.

Guidance thus far from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service indicates employers would be responsible for paying the back taxes that were deferred between January and April 2021, even if they could not recoup them from employees.

“My concern is people would have to start making double payments in January already,” Commissioner Rocky Ahner said last week. “If people take the money and spend it, then what?”

Workers who make less than $4,000 biweekly are eligible for the payroll tax deferral. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimated that employees making $50,000 a year would have about $1,073 deferred over nine biweekly pay periods.

A survey by the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers showed that at least 27 states already have decided not to defer the tax. Many Fortune 500 companies have also declined the deferral.