Nothing quite like a little math to concentrate someone's mind:

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.

There's more pain coming, too:

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.”

Doesn't matter, Mr. Opie. Time to pony up. And we'll come back for to you. Meanwhile, even more anecdotes to share:

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.”

Ms. Losick and her blue-state pals had a chance to sack someone in November, but they chose otherwise, and in overwhelming numbers. Sorry about your vacations and theater-going, sister, but the Leviathan needs to be fed. There are a lot of assistant undersecretaries to the associate directors in the Beltway and they need to have enough money so they can go on their vacations. "Our bidding?" Don't think so, ma'am.

Meanwhile, even on the lower end, the pain is nigh:

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!”

Congress did it. That nasty Congress. They need to get to work and solve this problem for Mr. Hunter. We have to get with the program and get those rich people to pay their fair share. Time to really stick it to Mr. Opie. Hell, he makes $2 million a year! Says so right in the paper! He's rich!

Better not object to any of this, either. It wouldn't be fair.

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Mr. Dilettante's Neighborhood.