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.
Ohio income tax: a 2025 law (House Bill 96) moved Ohio to one rate. After exemptions, the first $26,050 of income isn't taxed. Above that, the tax is $342 plus 2.75% of the income over $26,050 for 2025 (3.125% on income over $100,000), and $332 plus 2.75% for 2026. Ohio starts from your federal income and leaves out Social Security and military retirement. Other pensions, including government ones, are taxed. Exemptions: $2,400 for each person and child at incomes up to $40,000, $2,150 up to $80,000, $1,900 above that, and none at $750,000 or more for 2025 or $500,000 or more for 2026. Self-employment income counts as business income: the first $250,000 isn't taxed and the rest is taxed at 3%. Credits, none of them paid out as a refund: $50 for anyone 65 or older and up to $200 for retirement income (both for incomes under $100,000), $20 for each exemption at incomes under $30,000, the joint filing credit for married couples where both spouses have wages or pensions (20% down to 5% of the tax, up to $650; none at the incomes where exemptions stop), and the Ohio earned income credit (30% of the federal credit). Not included: the child care credit, the lump-sum credits, and other deductions. The page takes your exemptions' income test from Ohio income and assumes couples split their wages evenly.
Where state taxes go: the income tax and the 5.75% state sales tax go to the state's General Revenue Fund, after 1.75% goes to the Local Government Fund for counties, cities, villages and townships. The rest is split by the General Revenue Fund budget passed in House Bill 96: July 2025 to June 2026 for 2025 taxes, July 2026 to June 2027 for 2026 taxes (about $30.7 billion of state money). The federal government's share of Medicaid, which also runs through that fund, is left out, so Medicaid shows only Ohio's own money. Agency totals are from the Legislative Service Commission's spreadsheet of the enacted budget.
City and village income tax: almost every Ohio city and most villages tax wages and self-employment profit, from 0.5% to 3%. It's owed to the city where you work, and most cities credit their residents for tax paid to the work city; this page assumes you work where you live and applies your home city's rate. Retirement income, Social Security and investment income aren't taxed. Rates: the Ohio Department of Taxation's table of every municipality's rate for 2018 (the newest full list we could open), updated in two ways. First, 90 places (including Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron and Dayton) use newer rates from the Central Collection Agency's 2025 and 2026 tables, a 2025 federal payroll bulletin, payroll notices for 2026 changes, news reports of rate changes approved by voters in 2020 to 2025, and city websites. Second, 220 places use the rate history on their page at the Regional Income Tax Agency (RITA), which collects the tax for about 360 cities and villages: every RITA member with 2,000 or more people, and every member the 2018 list had no rate for. That turned up 14 rates that changed since 2018 (raises in Fairborn, Powell, Tallmadge, Macedonia, Springdale, Niles, Canal Fulton, Mayfield Heights and six others, and a cut in Minerva) and 25 small villages that have started a tax since then. The other 358 places still show their 2018 rate and say so; some have changed since. Places on neither list (mostly small villages, and Beavercreek and Bellbrook) are shown with no city income tax. Some cities limit the credit for working elsewhere; that doesn't matter here because the page assumes you work where you live.
School district income tax: about 200 school districts tax residents' income on top of property tax, each approved by voters. Rates are from the Ohio Department of Taxation's 2026 list (and its 2025 list for 2025). "Traditional" districts tax Ohio income after exemptions, including retirement income; "earned income" districts tax only wages and self-employment profit. School districts don't follow city lines, so the page applies a district's tax only to the city or village it's named for (129 places), assuming the whole place is inside that district. A city's part in another county gets the tax of the district where most of that part's people live (Census 2020). Many rural districts are named for an area instead, and outside cities and villages the page can't tell your district, so it leaves the tax out there. Your employer or your SD 100 return shows yours.
Sales tax: 5.75% for the state plus a county tax (0.5% to 2%) and, in 11 counties, a transit authority tax for buses (0.1% to 1%), for 6.5% to 8% in all. Rates are the Ohio Department of Taxation's county map for July 2023, updated for later changes: Lake County (down 0.25% from July 2024, back up from July 2025), the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA, up 0.5% from April 2025), Brown County (down 0.25% from October 2025) and Warren County (up 0.5% from October 2026). Rates that changed during a year are averaged over that year for 2025; for 2026 the label shows today's rate. Rossford adds TARTA's 0.5%, and the parts of Columbus, Dublin, Reynoldsburg and Westerville outside Franklin County add COTA's tax. County sales tax is split by what the county actually spent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 or 2024).
Property tax: Ohio taxes 35% of your home's value at your area's rates, cuts voted rates as values rise, and then takes off the state-paid 10% and 2.5% rollbacks for homes you live in (neither applies to levies passed since September 2013). For Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo the page uses the official 2025 rates (paid in 2026) for the main part of the city: about 1.576% of value in Columbus, 2.15% in Cincinnati and 1.974% in Toledo, after the rollbacks. Columbus's parts in Delaware and Fairfield counties use those counties' official rates for their main school district: about 1.719% (Olentangy) and 1.27% (Pickerington). Akron and 18 other Summit County cities and villages (such as Cuyahoga Falls, Stow, Hudson and Barberton) use the county's official 2025 rates for the part of town in its own school district: about 2.184% of value in Akron. Summit County's rate sheet doesn't show the state rollbacks, so the page estimates them at 9.4% of the bill, between the Columbus and Toledo figures. Mogadore's Portage County part uses Portage County's official 2025 rate for Mogadore Local Schools: about 1.773% of value, with the rollbacks estimated the same way. Everywhere else, including Cleveland, it uses your county's typical rate: the median tax paid divided by the median home value (U.S. Census, 2019-2023), an estimate that can be well off for your own address. Columbus, Cincinnati, the Summit County places and the county parts above are split by the 2025 tax rates for their own school district, county, city or village, library and parks. Other places use Ohio's statewide split: schools 64%, counties 16.1%, townships 7.2%, cities and villages 6.4%, libraries 2.5% and other districts 3.8% (County Auditors' Association, 2024 taxes); in a city the township share is counted with the city. 2025 laws (House Bills 186, 335, 309, 129 and 96) cap how fast some levies can grow, add new credits that showed up on some 2026 bills, and raise the homestead exemption's income limit; they aren't figured here.
Ohio gas tax: 38.5 cents a gallon, both years. The Ohio Constitution limits it to roads, bridges and highway safety. Shares are the Legislative Service Commission's for fiscal year 2023: about 54% to ODOT for state highways, 35% to counties, cities, villages and townships, 6% for highway bond payments, 2% for local projects through the Public Works Commission and 2% for other state agencies, mostly the Highway Patrol. 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: Columbus is split by its 2026 General Fund ($1.26 billion, as amended), Cleveland by its 2026 General Fund ($920.3 million: the Mayor's Estimate by division plus City Council's changes when it passed the budget in March 2026; about $84 million of it is moved to the capital budget for streets and buildings), Cincinnati by its approved budget for July 2025 to June 2026 ($574.5 million), Akron by its 2026 General Fund as proposed in March 2026 ($226 million; council adopted it with small changes) and Toledo by the department shares of its 2025 proposed General Fund, the newest detail we could read (its 2026 General Fund is about $392.5 million; the 2026 department detail is only in an online budget book we couldn't read). Other cities, villages and counties are split by what they 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 registration and local license fees, the tax on cars when you buy them (the county sales tax rate), hotel taxes, and fees in your utility bills.
Ohio sources: Income tax rates (R.C. 5747.02) · 2025 IT 1040 instructions · H.B. 96 tax changes (EY) · State budget as enacted (LSC) · Local Government Fund (LSC) · Municipal income tax rates, 2018 (ODT) · CCA rates · RITA member pages · City withholding rates (USDA NFC) · 2025 rate changes (Bloomberg Tax) · School district income tax rates 2026 · 2025 · Sales tax rates map (ODT) · COTA rate change · COTA and TARTA areas outside their counties (ODT) · Franklin County 2025 tax rates · Hamilton County 2025 tax rates · Lucas County 2025 effective rates · Delaware County 2025 tax rates · Fairfield County 2025 tax rates · Portage County 2025 tax rates · Summit County Fiscal Office · Statewide property tax split (CCAO) · Property tax by county · Motor fuel tax (LSC) · Midwest gas prices (EIA via FRED) · U.S. Census local government finances · Budgets: Columbus 2026 · Cleveland 2026 (Council's changes) · Cincinnati FY2026 · Akron 2026 · Toledo 2025
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 $12,616 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.