WOKV’s consumer warrior Clark Howard tells us if we don't avoid the fiscal cliff, we’ll see a tax increase by the second paycheck of next year.

“A lot of payroll services won’t be able to pivot quickly enough likely for the first paycheck in January,” Howard said.

But by the second, he thinks we’ll see it.

And as for the fiscal cliff, he thinks it’s “impossible to tell right now” what’s going to happen.

“There are far, far more questions than there are answers,” he said.

His answer to preventing the United States from losing its place as the “preeminent nation of this earth” is a reduction in spending.

“And it’s just a fact.”

He says the government needs to deal with the long term problems of Medicare and Medicaid.

To Howard, the Washington tax debate does not deal with “the fundamental issue of an aging population and obligations – even if they’re from the heart – we don’t have the checkbook to pay for.”

“The hard thing in Washington is getting people to use language that real people use,” Howard said.

“Raising revenue means raising taxes.  Reforming entitlements means reducing entitlements.”

He thinks the fiscal cliff deal may have to contain both of those things.

“The hard thing in Washington is even getting people to use language that real people use,” Howard said.

He thinks President Obama has the advantage right now.  If the U.S. goes over the cliff the wealthiest are automatically taxed more.

“But at the same time, the President has said he wants no tax increases on the middle class.  He’s gonna pin the tail not on the donkey but on the elephant, and say that it was the Republicans who pushed through a tax increase on the middle class.

But Howard says he has “a hard time taking them seriously as long as the two political parties are trying to be the party of candy and good times instead of dealing with the reality.”

“Neither the Republicans, nor the Democrats have said anything about any concrete plan that would say, ‘we take in a dollar, we spend a dollar.’”

If the sequestration cuts go through, he thinks it will have an effect on military contractors in Northeast Florida and not on active military personnel.

Clark Howard is the host of The Clark Howard Show on WOKV weeknights from 9pm – 12am.