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.
Texas has no state income tax; its constitution bans one. Most of what Texans pay the state comes from the sales tax: 6.25% on most things you buy, plus up to 2% more for local governments, so never more than 8.25%. The local part can be split among your city, your county, a transit authority and special districts, such as crime control, emergency services, development, hospital and library districts. Each part is shown in its own section. Groceries and medicine are not taxed.
Where state taxes go: the state sales tax goes to General Revenue, except up to $2.5 billion a year (about 5%) that voters set aside for highways in 2015 (Proposition 7). The Legislature passes a two-year budget; your state sales tax is split the same way as the $149.1 billion of General Revenue it spends from September 2025 to August 2027 (Legislative Budget Board). K-12 schools get the largest part, including money that lowers school property taxes.
Sales tax rates: each place's city, county, transit and district rates come from the Texas Comptroller's rate lists and its quarterly change notices, current to October 2026, with 2025 and 2026 as yearly averages. City rates and their parts (county, transit and special districts) are from the Comptroller's full city list for October 2026. A few cities missing from that list use ustax.tools' copy of the Comptroller's rates, and 8 small cities on neither list (such as Saginaw) are estimated: the full 2% local rate minus their county, transit and district taxes, marked "estimated." 45 small places have no city sales tax. San Antonio's city rate dropped from 1.25% to 1.125% in January 2026 when 1/8 cent moved to VIA's Advanced Transportation District. For 16 small cities that changed rates during 2025 or 2026 the old rate wasn't found, so both years use the new rate. Cities in more than one county are listed once for each county with 100 or more of their people, with the rates the Comptroller lists for that part of the city. Outside city limits, the page counts the county sales tax, countywide hospital and health districts, and transit in Bexar and Nueces counties; many unincorporated areas also have an emergency services district or other district tax that isn't included.
Cities and counties: Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso are split by their own General Fund budgets, where the city's 1% sales tax goes. Houston's and Fort Worth's are the adopted FY2027 budgets. San Antonio's department amounts are from its proposed FY2027 budget (the total is our estimate), and its sales tax also pays for Pre-K 4 SA (and, in 2025, Ready to Work job training). Dallas is split by its 2025-26 department budget, the newest detail published. Austin's police, fire, EMS and parks are from its 2026-27 budget, with smaller departments estimated from their 2025-26 shares. El Paso's is its FY2027 preliminary budget. Fort Worth also has a 0.5% crime control sales tax for police. Other cities, towns 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. Many Texas cities send part of their sales tax to an economic development corporation or a street repair fund; the page doesn't separate that. Counties that charge a sales tax must use it to lower county property taxes.
Property tax: Texas has no state property tax; it's all local. The estimate uses your county's typical rate (median tax divided by median home value, U.S. Census 2020-2024), from under 0.5% in a few rural counties to about 2% in El Paso County. Four small counties with too few Census answers (Crockett, Edwards, Kenedy and Loving) use their neighboring counties' typical rate. Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth are split by their 2025 tax rates (in Harris, Bexar, Dallas, Travis and Tarrant counties; San Antonio with Northside ISD, the largest school district in Bexar County); other places use the statewide split of 2023 property taxes from the Comptroller (schools 48%, cities 18%, counties 17%, special districts 16%). School taxes are figured after the $140,000 school homestead exemption that voters approved in 2025, so the school share is smaller for a less expensive home. Other local homestead exemptions, the over-65 tax freeze and utility district (MUD) taxes in newer subdivisions aren't included, so it's a rough guide. Your own bill lists every tax rate.
Texas gas tax: 20 cents a gallon, the same since 1991. Three-fourths goes to the State Highway Fund and one-fourth to schools through the Available School Fund. Gas isn't charged sales tax. Average gas prices used: $2.68 a gallon for 2025 and $3.37 for 2026 (federal EIA prices for the Gulf Coast region, January to September 2026).
Not included: the 6.25% motor vehicle sales tax on car purchases, car registration, hotel taxes, mixed-drink taxes and fees in your utility bills.
Texas sources: Comptroller city sales tax rates · county rates · transit rates · special district rates · ustax.tools city rates · 2026-27 state budget (LBB) · budget summary · Proposition 7 (TxDOT) · Taxes of Texas (Comptroller) · Property tax by county · Property taxes by type of government (Comptroller) · U.S. Census local government finances · Gulf Coast gas prices (EIA via FRED) · Property tax rates: Houston and Harris County districts · Dallas · Austin · San Antonio · Fort Worth · Budgets: Houston · San Antonio · Dallas · Austin · Fort Worth · El Paso
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 $9,193 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 Houston 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.