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.
Nebraska income tax: four brackets on federal income minus Social Security, which Nebraska doesn't tax, and minus the Nebraska standard deduction ($8,600 single, $17,200 married, $12,600 head of household for 2025; $8,850, $17,700 and $12,950 for 2026), plus an extra amount for each person 65 or older. Rates are 2.46%, 3.51%, 5.01% and 5.2% for 2025; for 2026 the top two are 4.55%, and they drop to 3.99% in 2027. Then a credit of $171 ($176 for 2026) for each person and dependent. After that credit, your Nebraska tax can't be more than your federal income tax before credits. Pensions and IRA and 401(k) withdrawals are taxed, but military retirement isn't. Railroad Retirement and the older federal Civil Service (CSRS) pension aren't taxed either; this page taxes those, so if yours is one of them, your Nebraska tax is lower. Refundable credits: the Earned Income Credit (10% of the federal one) and the community college property tax credit (100% of the community college tax on your home, if you enter one). The Child Care Tax Credit isn't included. No Nebraska city or county taxes income.
Where state taxes go: income tax and the state's 5.5% sales tax go to the General Fund, except a quarter point of the sales tax, which goes to roads under the Build Nebraska Act (85% state highways, 15% cities and counties). The General Fund is split by the budget for July 2026 to June 2027 as revised in the 2026 session: spending by agency from the Department of Administrative Services, plus the money the General Fund moves out to pay for property tax credits ($1.23 billion), community colleges ($285 million) and the Education Future Fund ($242 million), from the Legislative Fiscal Office. University and prison figures inside those areas use 2025-26 amounts.
Sales tax rates: city and village rates are from the Nebraska Department of Revenue's list effective July 1, 2026 (the department announced no changes for October 1, 2026), with the 2025-26 changes applied month by month (Norfolk, Friend and Mullen went to 2% in April 2025, new taxes in Lindsay, Minatare, Rulo, Shickley, Thedford and Filley, and others). Dakota County adds 0.5% where a city or village has no tax of its own; no other county has a sales tax. Lincoln's 1.75% is 1.5% for the city budget plus 0.25% for streets. Groceries aren't taxed. Special Good Life District rates are left out.
Budgets: Omaha's sales tax is split by its General Fund for calendar 2026 (from the city's 2027 Recommended Budget), and Lincoln's by its tax-funded budget for September 2026 to August 2027 (adopted August 2026). Other cities and villages are split by what they actually spent, as reported to the U.S. Census; the few with no Census report show one line. Nebraska counties don't get sales or income tax (except Dakota County's small sales tax), so they appear only in the property tax section.
Property tax: the estimate uses your county's typical rate (median tax divided by median home value, U.S. Census 2019-2023), about 1.5% statewide, 1.69% in Douglas County and 1.53% in Lancaster County. It's the bill after the state's credits; current bills may be a bit lower because the school credit moved onto the bill in 2024. Omaha's and Lincoln's splits use their 2025 tax rates from the Department of Revenue: in Omaha, Omaha Public Schools (with ESU 19 and the Learning Community) 56%, the City 22%, Douglas County 14%, Metro Transit 5%, and the community college, NRD and building commission the rest; in Lincoln, Lincoln Public Schools 64%, the City and Airport Authority 18%, Lancaster County 13%, and the rest to Southeast Community College, the NRD and other districts. Elsewhere the split is the statewide total for 2025 (schools 60%, counties 17%, cities and villages 12%), so it's a rough guide. Your own bill lists the exact amounts.
Nebraska gas taxes: the state gas tax was 30.4 cents a gallon in early 2025 and 31.8 cents from July 2025 through 2026, plus a 0.9-cent fee for leaking tank cleanup. About two-thirds goes to the state Department of Transportation and one-third to cities and counties. Gas isn't charged sales tax. Average gas prices used: $2.95 a gallon for 2025 and $3.62 for 2026 (federal EIA prices for the Midwest).
Not included: restaurant and hotel taxes some cities add (like Omaha's restaurant tax), utility occupation taxes cities charge on electric, gas and phone bills, wheel taxes and car registration.
Nebraska sources: 2025 tax rate schedule · 2026 schedule (draft) · 2025 income tax booklet · Property tax credits (LB 34) · Local sales tax rates · Rate changes · General Fund by area · 2026 budget report (Legislative Fiscal Office) · Property taxes by type of government · Gas tax rate · How the gas tax is split (NDOT) · U.S. Census local government finances · Budgets: Lincoln
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 $10,451 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 Omaha's website to find your council member ↗
An estimate to show where tax money goes, not tax advice. Use the calculator above to see your own numbers.