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.
Indiana: flat income tax (3.0% for 2025, 2.95% for 2026) on federal income minus Social Security (which Indiana doesn't tax) and exemptions: $1,000 per person, $2,500 per child, and $1,000 more for each person 65 or older, or $1,500 with income under $40,000 (Indiana has no standard deduction). Homeowners also deduct the property tax on their home, up to $2,500 (the bill you enter, or the estimate from your home's value). Renters deduct the rent they pay, up to $3,000. The page doesn't ask for rent, so it counts the full $3,000, which rent of $250 a month or more reaches. Military retirement isn't taxed; other pensions are. Federal civil service retirees 62 or older can also deduct up to $16,000 less their Social Security, which this page doesn't figure. The county income tax uses the same base. Indiana's Earned Income Tax Credit is 10% of the federal one. People 65 or older with federal income under $10,000 also get Indiana's Unified Tax Credit for the Elderly: $40 to $100, or $80 to $140 when both spouses are 65 or older, depending on income. Both credits are paid back as a refund when they're more than the tax. The 7% sales tax is statewide with no local add-ons, and 99.8% of it goes to the state's General Fund. Both are split by the state's General Fund budget for July 2026 to June 2027, from the 2025-2027 budget passed by the General Assembly.
County income tax: every county's current rate comes from the Indiana Department of Revenue, split into its parts using the State Budget Agency's 2026 certification. Three parts (general operations, police and fire, and economic development) are shared out among the county, cities, towns, townships, libraries and other local units. Each one's slice comes from the Department of Local Government Finance's 2026 distribution report, which is based mostly on each unit's property tax levy, not on where you live. So the money you pay is shared countywide, and your own city or town gets the share shown. Marion County isn't in that report, so Indianapolis's and Lawrence's shares are estimated from their own budgets.
City budgets: for 24 larger cities, the city's share is split by its own budget, mostly 2026 (a few use 2025 or 2027, which the page notes). Many Indiana cities don't post department-level budgets online, so some have only a few lines. Other cities are split by what they actually spent, as reported to the U.S. Census Bureau: 2024 for governments in its yearly sample, otherwise its 2022 Census of Governments (the page shows the year). 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. Towns whose Census report is missing or puts most spending under "other" still show their share by purpose.
Indiana gas taxes: Indiana charges a gas excise tax (35.5 cents a gallon on average in 2025; 36 cents through June 2026 and 37 cents after) plus a gasoline use tax, which is 7% of the average gas price and replaces sales tax on gas (about 17 cents in 2025). The Governor suspended the use tax from April 8, 2026 (Executive Order 26-09) and the excise tax from May 6 (Executive Order 26-11). Later orders kept both suspended, and Executive Order 26-35 extended them through December 4, 2026, so 2026 only counts gas bought outside those dates. For 2026 the use tax is the state's rate for each month before the holiday (15 to 17 cents a gallon), and November's 26.5 cents for December 5 to 31, the newest rate the state has published. Local governments still get their usual road money during the holiday; the state covers it from its highway fund. The excise tax goes about two-thirds to state highways and one-third to counties, cities and towns. Most of the use tax goes to state highways and Community Crossings road grants. Average gas prices used: $3.15 a gallon for 2025 and about $3.35 for 2026.
Not included: 1% to 2% food and beverage taxes on restaurant meals in some places, and hotel taxes.
Property tax: the estimate of about 0.76% of home value comes from 2024 Census data, before Indiana's new 2026 homestead credit (10% off, up to $300), so real 2026 bills may be a little lower. The split between schools, cities and towns, counties and others is the statewide average from the Department of Local Government Finance. Your own bill lists the exact amounts.
Indiana sources: Indiana Dept. of Revenue tax rates · County income tax rates (Departmental Notice #1) · State Budget Agency 2026 certification · State budget · Gas tax rates · 2026 gas tax holiday · Gas tax holiday through December 4 · Monthly gas use tax rates (Departmental Notice #2) · DLGF guide to property tax · Sales tax distribution law · DLGF 2026 local income tax distributions · U.S. Census local government finances (2024 survey and 2022 Census of Governments) · City budgets: Anderson, Bloomington, Carmel, Columbus, Elkhart, Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, Greenwood, Hammond, Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, Kokomo, Lafayette, Lawrence, Mishawaka, Muncie, New Albany, Noblesville, South Bend, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, Westfield
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 $12,366 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.
The state's Department of Local Government Finance reviews every local budget and tax rate before it takes effect.
An estimate to show where tax money goes, not tax advice. Use the calculator above to see your own numbers.