Payroll Tax Hike Goes Unnoticed By Half Of Americans: Survey

The payroll tax hike may not be derailing the economic recovery after all.

Forty-eight percent of Americans did not even notice the Jan. 1 payroll tax hike, according to a survey released Monday by Bankrate, a personal finance website. Another 7 percent of Americans said that the tax hike did not personally affect them.

Many economists have warned of the economic effects of hiking the payroll tax, which rose to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent on Jan. 1 following a failure to avoid the sequestration and hiking the payroll tax during fiscal cliff negotiations.

Some people and business have certainly felt the impact, however. Thirty percent of Americans said that they cut back on spending because of the payroll tax hike, according to the survey. And some companies, including Walmart and Darden Restaurants, have already pointed to the tax hike to explain slower sales this year.