>> tax hikes and consumer confidence taking a nose dive as payroll hikes kick n. sandra smith has the latest from the cme today. bad consumer confidence numbers? yeah. didn't look so good. in fact, there are consumer confidence in the u.s. plunged in january to its low elf level in more than a year, as americans saw their tacks spike and paychecks shrink. the confidence index dropped to 58.6 last month. that was the lowest reading since november, 2011. the key reason for this plunge, economists say the higher taxes made americans feel less optimistic about the next six months and congress reached a deal to prevent taxes from rising on most americans, but they did allow a temporary cut in social security tax to expire. so for a worker earning dr. 50,000 a year, take-home pay will shrink by $1,000.