The United States uses a progressive tax system, which means different portions of your income are taxed at different rates. Learn more about this system and how it impacts you in this article about tax brackets.

Understanding income tax brackets

Tax brackets show you the tax rate you will pay on each portion of your income. For example, if you are single, the lowest tax rate of 10% is applied to the first $9,700 of your income in 2019. The next chunk of your income is then taxed at 12%, and so on, up to the top of your taxable income.

The progressive tax system ensures that all taxpayers pay the same rates on the same levels of taxable income. The overall effect is that people with higher incomes pay higher taxes.

Your effective tax rate While it's likely you will pay income tax at various rates or tax brackets throughout the year, the actual percentage of your income that goes to the IRS is often referred to as your effective tax rate. The rate you must pay on the last dollar you earn is usually much higher than your effective tax rate. For example, if half of your income is taxed at 10 percent and the other half at 12 percent, then your effective tax rate of 11 percent means that 11 cents of every dollar you earned this year goes to the IRS.

Current tax brackets For 2019, there are seven different tax brackets with tax rates of 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35, and 37 percent. How much you will actually owe depends on both your income and your filing status. For example, if you are a single filer, you will pay 10 percent on the first $9,700 of income, but if you are married filing jointly, you and your spouse remain in that lower tax bracket until your income exceeds $19,400.