I’ve been seeing a lot of news stories where you’re wailing about how your payroll taxes went up.

The stories detail all the places you say you’re going to have to cut back, and how hard it’s going to be.

Behold, the world’s smallest violin.

Hello? There was a temporary payroll tax “holiday.” It wasn’t supposed to be permanent, and in fact, it went on longer than it should have.

You are now paying the same rate you’ve been paying since 1990, except for the holiday. In short, the hit you’re taking now is what they’ve been sucking out of your wallet for over 20 years.

You want a real boiling-frog moment, take some time to study this historical rate chart. Americans are paying twice the rates on this regressive tax as they were 40 years ago. And it’s probably only going to go up from here.

Want another clue dropped on your head? The rate you’re really paying is the one on the far right of that chart. You think the “employer’s share” isn’t coming out of his cost of employing you?

One more thing: If you have some time, figure out what you would have gotten if you’d put that money into stocks or gold. I did.