How to Use the Calculator
1. Sample Taxpayers. The easiest way to see the effects of tax policy changes is to select and compare our sample taxpayers (below). Default income values represent income and expenses for taxpayers at the 20th, 50th, 80th, 99th, and 99.9th percentiles. You can modify those income and expense variables but basic demographics are fixed.
2. Create Your Own Example. To examine a different family composition, create a customized analysis by submitting answers to questions about a hypothetical taxpayer's personal status, income, and deductions.
Need help? Click on a variable for more information on each term within the calculator.
|
The calculator is a tool to help you understand how current tax policy affects real families and what would happen if we changed that policy. With this version, you’ll be able to compare three alternative tax policies to see how different taxpayers would make out in either 2010 or 2011:
- 2010 law with all of the 2001-2003 tax cuts and the 2009 stimulus tax provisions still in place;
- 2011 law with scheduled expiration of the 2001-2003 tax cuts (often called the "Bush tax cuts");
- tax law in the compromise plan agreed to by President Obama and congressional Republicans that would extend the 2001-03 tax cuts through 2012 and make other temporary tax changes.
You can also turn the alternative minimum tax (AMT) "patch" on or off to see how raising the exemption affects whether taxpayers must pay the AMT.
Note: The Tax Calculator estimates the impact of proposed tax policies on typical taxpayers. It is not a tax preparation tool. For ease of use, many items that would be included on actual tax returns are omitted. Numbers generated by the Tax Calculator cannot be applied to specific tax returns.
|
|
Sample Taxpayers Each of the sample taxpayers we created is intended to be representative of families and individuals in specific income and demographic groups. You can use our examples, or make your own changes to their income and expenses. |
Married,
under age 65
No children
|
Married,
one child
in college
|
Married,
two children
under age 13
|
Single
|
Head of Household,
two children
under age 13
|
Married,
age 65
and over
|
|
|
|
|
