Your paycheck on a screen
Where your money actually goes
The screen says you make $75,000. You don't. You take home maybe $52,000 of that, and once rent, transport, and food are paid, your "discretionary" money — the part you actually have any choice about — is a sliver. This is the first thing the financial system hides in plain sight: the gap between gross income (the number you tell people) and what's actually yours to spend or save.
Type your salary below. The widget shows where every dollar goes for an average American at that income level. The numbers will surprise you in proportion, not just in detail.
Why your tax rate is lower than your "tax bracket"
You'll often hear "I'm in the 22% bracket." That's the rate on your next dollar earned, not your average rate. The US uses progressive brackets — your first $11,600 is taxed at 10%, the next chunk at 12%, then 22%, etc. Your effective rate is always lower than your top bracket, sometimes much lower. Knowing this matters when people argue about tax policy: "raising the top rate to 39.6%" affects only the highest dollars earned, not the whole income.
What you just learned
You don't earn what your offer letter says. You earn what's left after the system has already taken its slice — and most of that slice was decided by people who weren't elected to the position you ended up paying.