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They’re ready to jump off a real cliff.
New Yorkers of all income levels got a rude awakening yesterday when they saw in The Post how much more they will pay in taxes next year without a fiscal-cliff deal by Jan. 1.
“It’s that much higher?” asked IT worker Vikas Kataria, 34, who discovered that his combined household income of about $250,000 per year will cost him nearly $10,000 more in taxes.
“I thought it was a couple thousand — but that’s a lot,” said Kataria, who works at Merrill Lynch in Manhattan and is married to a systems analyst for a brokerage firm. “That’s huge!”
With higher taxes, the couple would have to cut out on traveling and family vacations.
Clothing designer Peter Opie, of Canary Wharf Clothier, made about $2 million this year — and would see his tax bill spike by a staggering $100,000.
“The system is nuts here — it’s madness personified!” he said
“We were impacted massively by the hurricane — and now there is this,” said Opie. “You work your butt off and you end up with next to nothing.”
Small-business owner Haim Hagon, 51, said it’ll be tough to afford college for his two high-school-aged children.
“Every dollar counts when the situation is tough,” said Hagon, who makes about $150,000 and already moved his son from a private school to a public school due to financial concerns.
“Another $6,000 could have gone to my daughter’s tuition. I’ll have to find that money another way.”
He works 12 hours a day, six days a week to keep his children’s-clothing store in Forest Hills, Queens, afloat — and is now mulling staff and pay cuts.
“What am I supposed to do, work harder?” Hagon said. “I don’t want to find myself in front of my store dead with a heart attack!”
HOW THE FISCAL CLIFF WILL AFFECT YOU
THESE ARE THE BREAKS – THAT EXPIRE
George Hoban, 55, said he pulls 65-hour weeks working as an accounts executive in transportation — and would see a tax hike of $4,000 on his $150,000 income.
“I’m concerned about what direction we’re going and whether I’ll be able to live an enjoyable retirement life in the next 10 years,” said Hoban, “I’m uncertain if that’s even achievable.”
If no cliff deal is reached, he’d end up having to cut down on golfing trips and travel to Europe. Plus, his bathroom renovation would have to wait.
“They’re just spinning their wheels in Washington!” Hoban said.
Jan Losick, a Medicare-aged counselor at Au Pair in America, makes about $150,000 when combined with her husband’s salary, and would pay about $6,000 more.
“The Senate and the House of Representatives should be sacked!” said Losick, who would have to cut down on vacations, going to the theater and eating out, and just stick to the basics. “They should be doing our bidding — not their own.”
With a likely tax increase of $2,200 looming, Andre Hunter, 49, is kissing his dream of owning a home goodbye.
“I’m trying to save for the future, to buy property — I’m a renter and would like to own a home,” said Hunter, a divorced father from the Riverdale section of The Bronx who works in human resources and makes about $75,000 a year.
“Every year, I save toward that, and paying this tax increase will lower my savings.”
He said he will have to trim activities like going out to dinner or the movies.
“I don’t like the uncertainty of this,” he added. “The fact that Congress can’t get the deal done is making me angry!”
Additional reporting by Jennifer Bain