What is Income tax in the United States?
'''In the [[United States]]''', people have to pay '''[[income tax]]es''' to the [[United States government]], most [[State governments of the United States|state governments]], and many [[local government]]s. This means that people have to pay [[tax]]es to these governments, based on [[income|how much money they earn]]. ==Introduction== Income taxes are based on what a person earns in one [[calendar year]] {{ndash}} between January 1 and December 31. When it takes income taxes, the government takes a [[percentage]] of a person's income. This percentage is called an [[income tax rate]]. In other words, the income tax rate is the part, or [[wikt:portion|portion]], of a person's income that the government takes.<ref name=ttaxrates>{{cite web |url=https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/What-are-Income-Tax-Rates-/INF14795.html |title=What are Income Tax Rates? Updated for Tax Year 2015 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=TurboTax: Taxes 101 |publisher=Intuit |access-date=April 15, 2016 |archive-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909203554/https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/What-are-Income-Tax-Rates-/INF14795.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The United States government, and most states, use ''progressive'' tax rates. This means that as a person earns more income, their income tax rate gets higher. In other words, as a person earns more money, they have to pay more taxes.<ref name=nyt>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/your-money/taxes/primertax.html?_r=0 |title=Income Taxes: What You Need to Know |author=Bernard, Tara Siegel |date=January 21, 2009 |website=[[The New York Times]] |publisher=The New York Times Company |access-date=April 15, 2016 }}</ref> Every year, the government divides incomes into categories. These categories are called [[tax bracket]]s. Each tax bracket includes a [[range (mathematics)|range]] of incomes {{ndash}} the lowest and highest amounts a person could earn to be in that tax