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.
Illinois: flat 4.95% income tax on federal income minus Social Security and retirement income (pensions, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals), which Illinois doesn't tax, and minus a personal exemption of $2,850 for 2025 and $2,925 for 2026 for each person and dependent, plus $1,000 for each person 65 or older. People with income over $250,000 ($500,000 married) get no exemptions. Illinois has no standard deduction. Credits: 5% of the property tax on your home (if you enter one), the Earned Income Credit (20% of the federal one; workers 65 or older without children get it too, even though they're too old for the federal one) and the Child Tax Credit (40% of the state Earned Income Credit, for a child under 12; the page assumes your children qualify). Both of those are refundable. No Illinois city or county taxes income.
Where state taxes go: 6.47% of state income tax goes to cities, villages and counties by population (the Local Government Distributive Fund); it's shown in your city's section, or the county's if you live outside city limits. Of the 6.25% state sales tax, 5% goes to the state, 1% to the city or village where you shop (the county outside city limits) and 0.25% to the county (in Cook County, to transit). The state's part is split by the General Funds budget for July 2026 to June 2027, as enacted, from the Governor's Office of Management and Budget. Pensions are the state's yearly payments into its retirement systems.
Sales tax rates: combined rates are from the Illinois Department of Revenue's rate files (effective August 1, 2026), which also list each place's rate before its last change. Some towns have business districts that add up to 1% in certain shopping areas. For those towns the page uses the rate outside the districts, from the department's address file. Four villages (Alvan, Lakewood, New Milford and Time) aren't in the state's files, so their rate is an estimate from a commercial sales tax table or from other towns in the county, and is marked "estimated". It may be off by a quarter point or more. A city or village in more than one county is listed once for each county with 100 or more of its people, with that part's own rate. The state's files have no rate for Columbia's St. Clair County part, so it uses St. Clair County's rate (Columbia has no tax of its own outside its business districts) and is marked "estimated" too. The part above the county's rate is shown as the city's or village's tax. Unincorporated Madison and St. Clair counties use the rate inside the Metro East transit district (6.85% and 7.35%); areas outside the district pay 6.60%. On August 1, 2026 the Chicago-area transit tax rose 0.25 point in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties, so 2026 averages the old and new rates. Groceries are left out of shopping: the state's 1% grocery tax ended January 1, 2026, but more than 600 cities, villages and counties added their own 1% grocery tax in 2026.
Budgets: Chicago's share is split by its 2026 Corporate Fund (shares by area from the Mayor's proposed budget; the City Council made changes in December). Cook County's is split by its FY2026 General Fund, and 1 point of its 1.75% sales tax pays for county pensions. Other cities, villages and counties are split by what they actually spent, as reported to the U.S. Census Bureau, where available. 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. Lines under 0.5% are grouped into Other services. The county taxes outside Cook County are shown together, because the mix of school-building, public safety and other county taxes isn't added yet.
Groceries and medicine are left out of shopping, because they're taxed at a lower rate: 1% across the state in 2025, plus transit taxes in the Chicago and St. Louis areas. On January 1, 2026 the state's 1% on groceries ended (it still applies to medicine), but more than 600 cities, villages and counties added their own 1% grocery tax, and the transit taxes still apply.
Property tax: the estimate of about 1.83% of home value is the statewide average for homeowners (Tax Foundation, from Census data). It's higher in Lake County and parts of the suburbs and lower in Chicago, where Cook County's assessments and the homeowner exemption lower bills. Chicago's split is from the Civic Federation's 2023 totals: Chicago Public Schools 49%, the City 24%, Cook County 10%, and the Park District, Water Reclamation District, City Colleges and Forest Preserves 17%. Elsewhere the split is a typical Illinois bill (schools about 62%), so it's a rough guide. Your own bill lists the exact amounts.
Illinois gas taxes: the state gas tax was 47 cents a gallon in early 2025 and 48.3 cents from July 2025 through 2026, plus 1.1 cents in fees. The first 19 cents is shared about 46% state and 54% local; the rest mostly goes to state highways, with 32% to local roads and 20% to transit projects. Sales tax also applies to gas. Cook County adds 6 cents and Chicago 5 cents; DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties add 5 to 10 cents. Some Cook County suburbs add their own 1 to 5 cents, which isn't included. Average gas prices used: $3.30 a gallon for 2025 and $3.98 for 2026 (federal EIA prices for Chicago and the Midwest).
Not included: restaurant and hotel taxes some cities add, Chicago's other city taxes (on parking, ride-hailing, streaming and more), utility taxes and the vehicle sticker.
Illinois sources: Illinois Dept. of Revenue tax rates · Sales tax rate files · Transit tax change, Aug 2026 · How sales tax is shared · Exemption amounts · Child Tax Credit law · FY2027 General Funds (GOMB) · Motor fuel tax rates · Gas tax split (Transportation Renewal Fund) · Chicago property tax by government · U.S. Census local government finances · Budgets: Chicago · Cook County
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 $13,346 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.