The Tax Lab
Politicians set the brackets and hand you the bill. Here you do the setting. Design your own federal income-tax brackets, watch the estimated revenue update live, and compare it head-to-head with current law.
Build your brackets
Set a marginal rate for each band of taxable income. Edit a rate or threshold and everything on the right recalculates instantly.
Marginal rate by income
Your schedule vs. current law.
What households actually pay
Effective tax rate (tax ÷ income) at sample incomes.
| Income | Current | Your plan |
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How this estimate works (and what it doesn't do)
This is a simplified, educational model — not an official revenue score. Here's exactly what it does:
- It starts from an approximate IRS-SOI-style distribution of U.S. tax returns grouped by income, with a representative number of returns and average income in each band.
- For each band it subtracts your standard deduction to get taxable income, applies your marginal brackets, multiplies by the number of returns in that band, and sums it all up.
- A single calibration factor is tuned so the model's current-law output equals real-world collections (about $2.2 trillion in individual income tax). The same factor is applied to your plan, so the comparison is apples-to-apples. That factor stands in for credits, itemized deductions, joint filing, and tax avoidance the model can't see directly.
Known simplifications: it models a single-filer-equivalent schedule, treats each income band by its average (so it slightly smooths progressivity within a band), and assumes behavior doesn't change when rates change (no "people will earn/shelter differently" effects). Very large rate changes are therefore rougher estimates. It covers individual income tax only — for now.
More revenue sources, coming soon
Income tax is the start. The plan is to let you model the whole federal revenue picture.
Tip: try the ★ Avery plan preset — it keeps middle-class rates near today's while raising rates at the very top. See how the whole thing adds up on The Budget page.
Like building things?
So do we. That's the whole campaign. Join us — and tell us what to add to the Tax Lab next.