Photo by Dsade

We keep hearing about the fiscal cliff that the U.S. is fast-approaching, but what does that mean for regular taxpayers? It depends where you live, and according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, Maryland residents should be worried.

Unless President Obama and Congress do something to steer the country away from the cliff, the Old Line State would be the second-worst hit in the country, with families of four seeing a 6.74 percent tax increase—or $7,194. Similarly sized families in Virginia would see a tax increase of $4,451 (just under five percent), while D.C. families would the second-least affected in the country, at $3,255, or 4.27 percent.

One caveat: this analysis assumes that Congress does nothing to patch the Alternative Minimum Tax, which it has done in the past. If it fails to do so, though, then the pain will be as bad as the Tax Foundation guesses:

Additionally, the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) has yet to be patched for the current tax year, let alone next. Congress could pass a retroactive patch (which it has done in the past) that would apply to the current year as well as next year; however, if it does not, the AMT exemption level would revert to what it was twelve years ago, and certain credits (such as the Child Tax Credit) would no longer be allowed against AMT liability. If this were to happen, millions of middle-class taxpayers could see a substantial tax increase, which for some could be even larger than the change from the end of the Bush-era tax cuts.

D.C., Maryland and Virginia would be hit hard by cuts in federal spending, too.