Not everyone is taxed at the same rate. The U.S. tax code is set up so that someone who earns $30,000 a year doesn't pay the same percentage of income on his top dollar as someone who earns $150,000. Income is divided into tax brackets, and a percentage rate applies to each bracket and the corresponding segment of income.

These percentage rates began at 10% in 2016 and gradually increased to 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, and finally a top rate of 39.6%. Where each of these tax brackets began and ended depended on your filing status. Congress adjusts the tax rates and the incomes that correspond with them periodically.

NOTE: The following tax rates and tax brackets apply only to tax year 2016. They've been adjusted periodically for inflation since that time, and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made additional and somewhat significant changes effective tax year 2018. As of 2019, the federal tax rates are 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and the top rate has dropped to 37%.

The 2016 Tax Brackets

The charts below show tax rates in the first column, followed by the beginning and ending income perimeters for each tax bracket. These dollar amounts apply to your taxable income—what's left over after you've taken the standard deduction or itemized your deductions and you've claimed any other tax breaks that you might be entitled to.

If you're a single individual and you earned $90,000 a year in 2016, you'd fall into the 25% tax bracket, but you wouldn't pay that rate on all your income. You'd actually pay only 10% on the portion of your income that fell between $0 and $9,275, and you'd pay 15% on the portion between $9,276 and $37,650. That 25% tax rate would apply only to the balance of your income.

These numbers have been rounded off to the nearest dollar for simplicity's sake.

Ordinary Tax Rates for Single Filing Status