Payroll tax increase has Americans asking #WhyIsMyPaycheckLessThisWeek

If your paycheck seemed a little lighter in the new year, it isn't just your imagination.

While Congress may have averted the fiscal cliff, one of the tax holidays they allowed to expire was a lower payroll tax rate.

The Boston Globe noted that President Obama had requested that the lower 4.2 percent payroll tax rate be extended, but lawmakers refused. The Social Security payroll tax rate is now 6.2 percent.

No matter how much you make, you will see a small cut in your paycheck in the new year.

"That tax is going to hit everybody’s paycheck this week. That’s going to have an immediate impact on disposable income," James P. Angelini, associate professor of taxation and accounting at Suffolk University in Boston, told The Globe.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated that 77 percent of Americans will see higher taxes due to the payroll rate increase, which translates to $115 billion less in disposable income, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Joe Rosenberg, a research associate at the Tax Policy Center, said, "This was always meant as a temporary provision to stimulate the economy when it was weak," according to The LA Times. "There was very little political support to see it continue."

The people on social media may feel differently…