What will it mean to you if the Social Security payroll tax cut is not extended?

If you're an average taxpayer, making $50,000 a year, you'll pay an extra $1,000 in Social Security tax next year. That's about $20 a week, or about $40 a pay period for those who get paid every other week.

The White House took its campaign to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on Tuesday afternoon, asking Americans to let Congress know what $40 means to them. The administration also is collecting Americans' stories online.

President Barack Obama noted that while most members of Congress support extending the payroll tax cut, Republicans in the House have chosen to hold it hostage so they can get other concessions from Democrats and the administration. "This is not a game," Obama said in response to a GOP characterization of the payroll tax debate as "high-stakes" poker.

"Our failure to do this could have effects not just on families but on the economy as a whole," Obama said of the tax cut extension. "It’s not a game for the average family, who doesn’t have an extra 1,000 bucks to lose. It’s not a game for somebody who’s out there looking for work right now, and might lose his house if unemployment insurance doesn’t come through. It’s not a game for the millions of Americans who will take a hit when the entire economy grows more slowly because these proposals aren’t extended."

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What does $40 mean to Americans? Here are some of the stories collected so far:

• "I can buy lunch from the cafeteria for almost a whole month for my twins, I can buy food, or pay for gas. I can save it for my daughter’s prescriptions deductibles. To some people $40 is nothing, but $40 is big money for us," writes L.A. of Hamden, Conn.
• "After everything that comes out, including my mortgage, my take-home pay is $150 every two weeks. So minus $40 would be $110. I can barely get by now. That $40 bucks is my gas for my car to get to work. Taking $40 away from my pay would, just about put me under," writes R.T. of Charleston, W.Va.
• "$40 less a paycheck means I will have to pick between my insulin and the water bill. It means never being able to see my doctor - even though I have insurance," writes B.T. of Roswell, N.M.

A number of respondents noted that $40 pays for a tank of gas, which equals transportation to work. Others mentioned needing the money for food or medical expenses.

Because Social Security tax is levied only on the first $106,800 of income, the tax cut has a greater impact on workers who make less than that amount. Because those workers are likely to spend that extra $20 a week on things such as food, gasoline and clothing, the money also goes back into the economy -- though there is some debate on how big a stimulus the tax cut provides.

"With the payroll tax cut, what is really at stake here is deciding whether or not to infuse $120 billion of disposable income into the economy in 2012," Andrew Fieldhouse, a federal budget policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, told ABC News. "It’s not the best way to create jobs, but it is the biggest jobs measure being considered by Congress."

The payroll tax cut expires Dec. 31, and Congress appears unlikely to act before then. Of course, it's certainly possible Congress could vote in January to extend the tax cut. The measure passed by the Senate was only a two-month extension, which means the issue would have to be revisited next year even if the House had voted to accept that extension. There's that little issue of how to pay for the tax cut still to be worked out.

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