Diving off the Fiscal Cliff


Will it hurt?

• If you’re low-income or elderly: No, it won't hurt. If you don’t pay taxes your taxes can’t go up.
• If you rely on dividend income. Yes, it's going to hurt. Taxes on dividend income will go up at a much higher proportion than other tax rates. Look out below.
• If you’re a full-time student. No pain. The fiscal cliff is not something you’ll be pushed off of….yet.
• If you’ve been collecting unemployment for more than 26 weeks. Yes, ouch. Your program just expired.
• If you’re employed. Yes, get ready for the bleeding. Higher taxes coming your way. And the payroll tax holiday is officially ending.
• If you’re employed by the government. Yes, you too. Those sequestration provisions are set to kick in. Translated into dollars this will mean $1.2 trillion in cuts to budgets over 10 years.
• But have no fear—our elected officials will be back at the table in January figuring out how to create “tax-cuts” while somehow paying for the ever-increasing size of government programs.

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