Half a Trillion Dollar Tax Hike Coming

If nobody does anything about it

Nearly 90 percent of Americans would face higher taxes next year if Congress permits the nation to hurtle over the "fiscal cliff," the year-end precipice of tax hikes and spending cuts that threatens to throw the nation back into recession.

A study published Monday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center finds that taxes would go up by a collective $536 billion next year, or about $3,500 per household, reducing after-tax income by about 6.2 percent.