Tax Calculator: How the TCJA’s Expiration Will Affect You
Unless Congress acts, Americans are in for a tax hike in 2026.
3 min readProviding journalists, taxpayers, and policymakers with the latest data on taxes and spending is a cornerstone of the Tax Foundation’s educational mission.
As a nonpartisan, educational organization, the Tax Foundation has earned a reputation for independence and credibility. Our federal tax policy team regularly provides accessible, data-driven insights from sources such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), and others. For more insights on the latest federal tax policies, explore the Tax Foundation’s general equilibrium Taxes & Growth (TAG) Model
Unless Congress acts, Americans are in for a tax hike in 2026.
3 min readAt the end of 2025, the individual tax provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) expire all at once. Without congressional action, most taxpayers will see a notable tax increase relative to current policy in 2026.
4 min readExplore the IRS inflation-adjusted 2024 tax brackets, for which taxpayers will file tax returns in early 2025.
4 min readThe 2021 tax year was the fourth since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made many significant, but temporary, changes to the individual income tax code to lower tax rates, widen brackets, increase the standard deduction and child tax credit, and more.
9 min readHow do current federal individual income tax rates and brackets compare historically?
1 min readDifferent taxes have different economic effects, so policymakers should always consider how tax revenue is raised and not just how much is raised.
3 min readWhile some tax preferences like the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit benefit lower- and middle-income households, others, like itemized deductions, benefit high-income households.
4 min readIn the 1950s, when the top marginal income tax rate reached 92 percent, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid an effective rate of only 16.9 percent. As top marginal rates have fallen, the tax burden on the rich has risen.
4 min readThe federal income tax and federal payroll tax make up a growing share of federal revenue. Individual income taxes have become a central pillar of the federal revenue system, now comprising nearly half of all revenue.
2 min readRecent plans to increase the tax burden on wealthy Americans, such as higher marginal income tax rates and wealth taxes, are flawed in several ways, including in their lack of understanding of tax history.
4 min readRecent interest in raising the tax burden on high-income individuals glosses over the fact that the U.S. federal tax code is already progressive.
3 min read