The sting from higher taxes in your first 2013 paycheck is also going to sting the economy this year, particularly in the first quarter.
As of Jan. 1, the payroll tax that funds Social Security was raised two percentage points to its 2010 level of 6.2 percent. It is also by far the biggest component—$125 billion of the $190 billion—in tax increases approved by Congress to fend off a bigger wave of tax hikes from the "fiscal cliff."
Economists expect it to pare as much as 1 percent or even more from first quarter growth on an annualized basis.
"In Q1, annualized it will shave about 1.4 percent off GDP," estimated Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. He said the payroll tax increase is by far the biggest hit, and he expects that the other new taxes amount to a dent to growth in the first quarter of about 0.3 percent.
The payroll tax increase is widely expected to shave about 0.6 percentage point off of GDP this year, but the hit will be hardest in the first quarter as consumers initially feel the pinch.