Included in that fiscal cliff bill (the one that actually passed) was a legitimate tax increase: the expiration of a payroll tax cut that went into effect in 2010 and was renewed in December 2011 and again in February 2012. Since it wasn't renewed this time around, the tax (which funds Social Security) went up two percentage points, from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. According to WonkBlog's Neil Irwin, who crunched the numbers, that means the average private-sector paycheck — $818.69 paid every fortnight — will go down by $32.75, or about $850 for the entire year.

The tax hike, which takes effect immediately for wages earned in 2013, doesn't have too many fans. Twitchy, the conservative Twitter aggregator, devoted an unusually long post to the public's reaction to their suddenly smaller paychecks — throwing in, for good measure, a number of conservative commentators who placed blame for the take hike on their opponents' shoulders:

The the "Elections Have Consequences" file.HAHAHAHA democraticunderground.com/10022125273#po…

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 3, 2013

The price for having your head in the sand just went up. bit.ly/W7WuOi #tcot #tlot

— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) January 3, 2013

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA what happened, he said HA HA HA HA HA demu.gr/10022125273

— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) January 3, 2013

James Taranto was unavailable for immediate comment about Treacher's comment.

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J.K. Trotter