2010 and 2011 tax rates, income brackets

When we file our taxes, we want the bottom line: Just what do we owe?

That amount depends upon into which tax bracket our taxable income falls.

Thanks to the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 that became law on Dec. 17, 2010, the six federal income tax rates that apply to our 2010 taxes are in place for 2011 (and 2012, too).

The tables below show which of the tax rates apply to what chunks of our money for the 2010 and 2011 tax years. The IRS will update the 2012 income tax bracket ranges for inflation later this year.

Note that the income ranges for married couples who file a joint return are double that of a single taxpayer in both the 10 percent and 15 percent tax brackets. This helps ease somewhat a possible marriage tax penalty.

That duplication of the two lower tax rate/tax bracket amounts to lessen the marriage tax continues this tax year.

And speaking of 2011, for your tax planning purposes — yes, some obsessive, annoying, crazy, Type A, smug incredibly tax-savvy people are already planning their 2011 tax strategies — here's a look at this year's tax rates and brackets table.

Marginal vs. effective taxes: Tax tables are always interesting to look at, but keep in mind that just because your income falls into a certain tax bracket, that not the percentage of your earnings that you'll pay Uncle Sam.

Our tax system is progressive. The amount of income taxes you pay increases as your income increases, but it does so in steps.

So even if a single taxpayer makes $50,000 in 2011, she's not going to owe $12,500, or 25 percent of her income since it's in the 25 percent income tax bracket, to the IRS.

The first $8,500 a single taxpayer earns is taxed at 10 percent, with the next $26,000 at 15 percent and then the final $15,500 of her income taxed at her top rate of 25 percent.

That makes her tax bill $8,625 instead of $12,500. Here's the down-and-dirty math:

$8,500 x 10 percent = $850
$26,000 x 15 percent = $3,900
$15,500 x 25 percent = $3,875

And $850 + $3,900 + $3,875 = $8,625

So her real, effective or average (pick your term) tax rate on the $50,000 is 17.25 percent even though her marginal tax rate, which is the rate applied to the last dollar of income she earned, is 25 percent.

And remember that my very simple, for-illustration-purposes-only example uses a hypothetical taxpayer's gross earnings, not her final taxable income amount.

Adjustments, deductions and exemptions are going to reduce that $50,000 to a lower taxable income level.

Related posts:

• The new tax bill and your 2010 taxes
• Merry Taxmas! House OKs tax bill
• Important 2011 tax deadlines
• Filing Valentine from the IRS

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