While many of us are cleaning up our Christmas trees and putting away wrapping paper, President Obama and Congress are still hammering out an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff. But if Obama and Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner do not come to terms by Jan. 1, NBC News has a few notes on what Americans can expect financially.
Experts also say that even if no deal is reached by Jan. 1, retroactive fixes and other dealmaking could prevent the most harmful effects from ever hitting most Americans.
Still, the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank, says that nearly 90 percent of households would be affected if we go over the fiscal cliff completely and no deal is reached …
But the Tax Policy Center says that on average, taxes would go up for every income group, from the poorest taxpayers to the most wealthy:
* Americans in the lowest 20 percent of the income scale could pay an average of about $400 more in taxes.
* Middle-income households could pay about $2,000 more in taxes, on average.
* The top 20 percent of taxpayers could pay about $14,000 more a year in taxes, on average.
* The 1 percenters could pay an average of $120,000 more in taxes.
Read more at NBC News.