Four State owners say don't blame them for 2% decrease - KOAM TV 7

Four State owners say don't blame them for 2% decrease in take-home pay

Many folks haven't received that first paycheck of 2013.  But they'll see a difference in earnings and may be calling human resource directors and accounting officers for an explanation.

Smaller paychecks are in store for most Americans now that the Social Security tax reduction has expired.

The message from most employers we spoke with is don't blame the boss.

Social Security taxes were reduced by 2% for 2011 and 2012 but that expired with the new year.

Workers at Vintage Stock say they haven't even noticed the change on paychecks.  And while they're not happy to lose any income they say there's little they can do about it.  The company's owner says a message will go out in the next paycheck explaining the change in the social security tax increasing from 4.2% to 6.2%.

Other companies are doing the same and at SNC² a number of employees received raises in the New Year but those won't appear so big on their  paychecks now.

"I want them to understand this is not something I'm taking away from them, this is not something I'm doing on purpose, this was something - a law that was changed, was in effect a couple years ago and now they're taking that away - the challenge is it's always difficult," says John Motazedi, CEO for SNC².  "It's easy to give money away.  It's difficult to take it back and people don't understand it."

Most say the decrease will look small on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis - from $5 to $10 for somebody making $25,000 a year - over the year it'll add up.