Enter a few numbers and get an itemized breakdown of the taxes you pay in a year, and what the federal government, the state, your county and your city spend them on.
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Sales tax isn't included yet.
A rough estimate to show where tax money goes, not tax advice. Your actual taxes depend on deductions, credits and other income.
Enter your income to see where your taxes go.
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Each section above lists who decides. The next step is your ballot: see who and what you'll be voting on, check your registration, and find where to vote.
See what's on your ballot ↗Tax money goes into shared pots, so no one can trace your exact dollars. Each line shows your share of what that government spends, in proportion to its budget.
Where you live: the breakdown uses one place, your main home. If you have two homes, each home's property tax goes to that home's local governments, and sales tax goes to wherever you shop. In Indiana, county income tax goes to the county you lived in on January 1.
Tax year: pick 2025 if you're using last year's tax return, or 2026 to estimate this year. The tax math uses that year's brackets, deductions and rates, including local rates that changed partway through 2025 (averaged over the year). Federal spending is that year's actual spending (the federal year runs October to September). State and local spending follows each government's current budget for both years. Budgets usually shift only a few percent from year to year.
Federal: tax brackets and standard deduction for the year you pick, including the extra deductions for people 65 and older, the child tax credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit. It assumes you take the standard deduction and have no other income (like interest, dividends or capital gains) or other credits. Up to 85% of Social Security benefits can be taxed, depending on your other income. Self-employment income pays both halves of Social Security and Medicare tax, minus the usual deductions for it. Social Security and Medicare taxes are shown going to those programs. Refundable credits that come back to you as a refund are shown separately, not subtracted from your total. Income tax is split by what the government actually spent on everything except Social Security, which is paid from its own tax, in the federal year you pick (fiscal 2025 or 2026), by area and by program, from the U.S. Treasury's final Monthly Treasury Statement for that year. The government also borrows, so total spending is larger than taxes collected.
Gas: gas spending is turned into gallons using an average pump price for the year you pick, then taxed per gallon. Every gallon includes the 18.4-cent federal gas tax, which goes to the federal Highway Trust Fund for highway and transit grants to states. Gas isn't charged regular sales tax, so leave it out of your shopping.
California income tax: starts from federal income minus Social Security, which California doesn't tax. Pensions and IRA withdrawals are taxed. For 2025 through 2029, up to $20,000 of military retirement isn't taxed when federal income is $125,000 or less ($250,000 for a married couple). California didn't adopt the 2025 federal changes, so there's no senior deduction, no tips or overtime deduction, and no 20% small-business deduction. Then the California standard deduction ($5,706 single, $11,412 married or head of household for 2025; $5,900 and $11,800 for 2026) and nine brackets from 1% to 12.3%, from the Franchise Tax Board's rate schedules. Then exemption credits: $153 per person, $153 more for each person 65 or older and $475 per child for 2025 ($158, $158 and $491 for 2026). They shrink for incomes over about $252,000 single or $504,000 married. Income over $1 million pays 1% more for county mental health programs. If you rent, pick "I rent" and we take off the renter's credit ($60 single, $120 married or head of household) when your income is under the limit.
CalEITC: California's Earned Income Tax Credit for lower incomes (up to $32,900 for 2025) is refundable, so any amount above your tax comes back to you. The 2026 CalEITC amounts are our estimates (2025 amounts raised 3.4% for inflation) until the Franchise Tax Board publishes them in December. Not included: the Young Child Tax Credit (up to $1,189 for families with a child under 6), since this page only asks about children under 17; the foster youth credit; and itemized deductions. The 2026 brackets come from the Franchise Tax Board's October 2026 update, and the 2026 income limits for the exemption credits are our estimate (2025 limits plus 3.4%). The Franchise Tax Board posts final 2026 figures in late December.
Paycheck tax: State Disability Insurance is 1.2% of all wages for 2025 and 1.3% for 2026, with no cap. It pays for disability and paid family leave benefits. Self-employment income isn't charged.
Where state money goes: income tax and the state's 3.9375% of the sales tax go to the General Fund, split by the 2026-27 budget passed by the Legislature (Department of Finance Schedule 9). The rest of the 7.25% statewide sales tax is local: 1.0625% and 0.5% go to counties for programs the state handed them in 2011 and 1991, 0.5% (Prop 172) to local public safety, 1% to your city (or the county, outside city limits) and 0.25% to county transportation. On top of that, cities, counties and transit agencies add voter-approved district taxes. Each one's rate and dates come from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration; taxes that started or ended partway through a year are averaged over that year. What each district tax pays for is read from its name, so a few may be off.
Cities: for 23 larger cities, the city's share (the 1% local sales tax and its general-purpose add-on taxes) is split by the city's own General Fund budget, mostly adopted 2026-27 budgets; the page notes when it uses a proposed budget or an earlier year. San Francisco's smaller departments are grouped as one line, and Santa Rosa's budgeted savings credit is spread across its departments. Other cities are split by what they actually spent in 2024-25 (tax-supported funds), as reported to the California State Controller. City sales taxes set aside for one purpose (police and fire, roads, parks, libraries) are shown on their own lines. The county general budget is split by what the county actually spent, as reported to the U.S. Census Bureau: 2024 for counties in its yearly sample, otherwise its 2022 Census of Governments. That split leaves out water, sewer, trash, electric and gas utilities, transit systems, airports, ports, parking and hospitals, because they're paid for mostly by user fees and fares, not taxes. In both, lines under 0.5% are grouped into Other services. San Francisco's county share shows one line. Not included: utility users taxes that many cities charge on phone, power and water bills, hotel taxes, cannabis taxes and parcel taxes.
The November 3, 2026 election: voters decided 61 local sales tax increases. These are early results, not final. The Bay Area transit measure (+0.5% in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, +1% in San Francisco) was passing with about 62% yes, Santa Rosa's Measure L (+0.5%) with about 67%, and Berkeley's Measure V (+0.5%) with about 52%. San Diego County's Measure B (+0.5% countywide) was too close to call at about 52% yes, and Oceanside's Measure S (+0.5%) was just behind at about 49.6% yes. We found no results yet for Ontario's Measure H (+0.5%). Fresno's Measure D (about 58% yes) doesn't raise the rate: it keeps Fresno at 8.35% when the county's Measure C tax ends, from July 1, 2027. Most increases that pass start April 1, 2027, so the 2026 taxes on this page don't change.
Property tax: Prop 13 limits the basic tax to 1% of a home's assessed value, which starts at the purchase price and rises at most 2% a year, plus voter-approved bonds. So people who bought long ago pay much less than 1% of today's value. The estimate uses 0.71% of home value, the statewide average effective rate; entering your bill is more accurate. The split (53.5% schools, 14.1% counties, 12.2% cities, 20.2% special districts and other) is the statewide average from the Board of Equalization for 2024-25. All of these shares are shown together in the property tax section.
California gas taxes: the state gas tax averaged 60.4 cents a gallon in 2025 and 62.3 cents in 2026 (it changes every July 1). It's split roughly 42% state highway repair, 16% highway and regional projects, 19% city streets, 19% county roads and 4% other SB 1 programs; that split is our approximation of several formulas. Gas also pays 2.25% sales tax, which all goes to cities and counties, plus every local add-on tax. Average gas prices used: $4.41 a gallon for 2025 and $5.28 for 2026 (January to September).
California sources: FTB 2025 tax rate schedules · FTB 2025 Form 540 instructions · FTB 2026 indexing · EDD disability insurance rates · 2026-27 General Fund (Schedule 9) · CDTFA sales tax breakdown · CDTFA city and county rates · CDTFA district taxes · BOE property tax split · LAO property tax primer · CDTFA fuel tax rates · Gas tax split · DMV registration fees · EIA California gas prices · November 2026 local measures · Bay Area transit measure results · San Diego County Measure B results · Santa Rosa Measure L results · Berkeley Measure V results · Oceanside Measure S results · Fresno Measure D explained · Fresno Measure D results · California State Controller city finances (2024-25) · U.S. Census local government finances (2024 survey and 2022 Census of Governments) · City budgets: Anaheim · Bakersfield · Chula Vista · Elk Grove · Fontana · Fremont · Fresno · Glendale · Irvine · Long Beach · Los Angeles · Modesto · Oakland · Riverside · Sacramento · San Bernardino · San Diego · San Francisco · San Jose · Santa Ana · Santa Clarita · Santa Rosa · Stockton
Federal sources: U.S. Treasury Monthly Treasury Statement, FY2025 and FY2026 · 2025 IRS brackets · 2026 IRS brackets · Federal gas tax (FHWA)
A married couple with two kids under 17. They earn $80,000 a year from work, spend $25,000 a year on shopping (not counting groceries) and $1,500 on gas, and rent their home. These are their 2026 taxes.
They pay about $10,768 a year in taxes. Here's where it goes.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the debt run on existing laws, so they change only when Congress changes those laws. Most other spending is voted on every year.
An estimate to show where tax money goes, not tax advice. Use the calculator above to see your own numbers.