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.
Missouri income tax: 2% to 4.7% on brackets that grow with inflation each year. For 2025 there's no tax on the first $1,313 of taxable income, and 4.7% on income over $9,191; for 2026 the steps are $1,348 and $9,436. The rate didn't drop for 2026: the state's revenue didn't grow enough to trigger the next cut. In August 2026 voters turned down Amendment 5, which would have phased out the income tax. Missouri starts from your federal income and leaves out all Social Security, takes the same standard deduction as the federal return (with the extra amount for people 65 or older), and subtracts part of your federal income tax: 35% of it at incomes up to $25,000, falling to 5% at $100,000 to $125,000 and none above that, up to $5,000 ($10,000 for a couple). Up to $6,000 a person of pension, IRA and 401(k) money isn't taxed when income (without Social Security) is under $25,000 ($32,000 for a couple), shrinking above that. If you say your pension is from a government job, up to $47,633 a person of it isn't taxed for 2025 ($48,967 for 2026), less the part of your Social Security the IRS taxes, at any income. Military retirement isn't taxed at all. 20% of self-employment profit is deducted. A married couple's tax is figured separately for each spouse on their share; this page splits the couple's income evenly. Credits: the Working Family Tax Credit, 20% of the federal earned income credit (it can only cancel tax owed, not add to a refund), and the Property Tax Credit for homeowners 65 or older with low incomes, which comes back as a refund. For 2025 it's up to $1,100 for incomes up to $30,000; for 2026 a 2025 law (House Bill 594) raises it to $1,550 and the income limit to $42,200 ($48,000 for a couple). Renters can claim the credit too, and people with disabilities; this page doesn't figure those.
Where state taxes go: the income tax and 3 cents of the 4.225% state sales tax go to General Revenue, split here by the budget passed by the General Assembly after the Governor's vetoes: July 2025 to June 2026 for 2025 taxes (about $15.7 billion) and July 2026 to June 2027 for 2026 taxes (about $15.9 billion), including the capital budget. Federal money, which pays most of Medicaid, isn't counted. The rest of the state sales tax is set aside by the Missouri Constitution or by voters: 1 cent for public schools (Proposition C), 1/8 cent for the Department of Conservation, and 1/10 cent for state parks and soil and water conservation.
Sales tax: the 4.225% state rate plus county, city and district taxes, from the Missouri Department of Revenue's rate tables for October to December 2026, with every change in 2025 and 2026 (for example, new or higher taxes in Independence, Andrew County and many fire and ambulance districts). Rates that changed during a year are averaged over that year; for 2026 the label shows today's rate. Each place uses the rate at its main location; some parts of a city are in a different fire or ambulance district, and shopping areas in community improvement or transportation development districts add more. A city in more than one county has a place for each county part with 100 or more people, such as "Kansas City (Clay County)", with that county's taxes. A smaller part is counted with the city's main county (Kansas City's few homes in Cass County are counted with Jackson County). Groceries are taxed at 1.225% for the state plus the full local rate, so the page tells you to leave them out. In St. Louis City and County, the transit, zoo and Great Rivers Greenway taxes are shown on their own.
Earnings tax: Kansas City and St. Louis tax residents' wages and self-employment profit 1%, and also tax people who work there but live elsewhere. Voters renewed both in April 2026. A 2010 state law doesn't let any other city start one.
Property tax: Missouri taxes homes on 19% of their value. For Kansas City (its Jackson, Clay and Platte County parts), Lee's Summit (its Jackson and Cass County parts), Independence, Springfield, Columbia and St. Louis, the page uses the official 2025 rates for the main school district there (about 1.594% of value in Kansas City and 0.947% in Springfield), split by school, county, city, library and other districts. Everywhere else it uses your county's typical rate: the median tax paid divided by the median home value (U.S. Census, 2020-2024), which can be well off for your own address, split by the statewide 2025 shares of property tax: schools about 68%, cities 8%, fire, ambulance and road districts 9%, counties 7%, libraries 3%, and colleges and other districts 4% (added up from the State Auditor's review of every 2025 rate). Outside cities the city share is left out.
Missouri gas tax: 27 cents a gallon until June 2025, then 29.5 cents (an average of 28.26 cents for 2025). Drivers of cars and light trucks can claim back everything above 17 cents each July to September with Form 4923-H; this page counts the full tax. The Missouri Constitution sends 15% to cities and about 13% to counties for roads and streets; the rest goes to the State Road Fund for state highways, which also pays for the Highway Patrol's traffic work. Gas isn't charged sales tax. Average gas prices used: $2.90 a gallon for 2025 and $3.63 for 2026 (federal EIA prices for the Midwest).
Budgets: Kansas City is split by its General Fund for May 2026 to April 2027 ($836.1 million), St. Louis by its General Fund for July 2026 to June 2027 ($637.1 million; St. Louis is also a county, so this includes courts, the sheriff and jails), Columbia by its General Fund for October 2026 to September 2027 ($133.9 million), Lee's Summit and Independence by their General Funds for July 2026 to June 2027 ($103.4 million and $92.4 million) and St. Joseph by its General Fund for the same year by function ($63.3 million). Springfield's online budget doesn't break its General Fund down by department, so it, like other cities and counties, is split by what it actually spent as reported to the U.S. Census Bureau (2022 or 2024), leaving out utilities and other services paid by fees.
Not included: car sales tax and registration, personal property tax on cars (paid to your county each year), hotel and restaurant taxes, and fees in your utility bills.
Missouri sources: Income tax rates (RSMo 143.011) · 2025 MO-1040 instructions · 2026 withholding formula · Public pension limit (DOR) · Property Tax Credit (RSMo 135.030) · FY2026 budget by department · FY2027 budget by bill · Budget Fast Facts 2026 · Sales tax rate tables (DOR) · Earnings tax (RSMo 92.111) · St. Louis earnings tax · 2025 property tax rates (State Auditor) · Jackson County 2025 levies · Clay County 2025 levies · Cass County 2025 levies · Greene County levies · Property tax by county (Census) · Gas tax (RSMo 142.803) · MoDOT fast facts · MoDOT Citizen's Guide to Transportation Funding ·Midwest gas prices (EIA via FRED) · U.S. Census local government finances · Budgets: Kansas City FY2026-27 · Independence FY2026-27 · St. Louis FY2027 · Columbia FY2027 · Lee's Summit FY2027 · St. Joseph FY2027
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 $12,081 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.
Visit the City of Kansas City website to find your council members ↗
An estimate to show where tax money goes, not tax advice. Use the calculator above to see your own numbers.