U.S. federal taxes · 1913 to 2026

Paycheck Time Machine

Enter your salary, family and deductions, and see how much you would have kept under each year's federal tax rules, from the first modern income tax in 1913 to today.

$

Wages before any taxes or deductions. The example is $75,000.

2 Filing status
3 Children

Each child counts from the year they joined your family: a dependent exemption through age 18, the child tax credit through age 16, and from 2018 a $500 credit at ages 17–18.

%

Percent of salary saved pre-tax, up to each year's limit. 401(k)s began in 1981.

$

Mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charity per year. Used only in years where it beats the standard deduction.

6 Taxes to include

Where your salary goes, year by year

Salary
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Years

Hover or slide a finger to read any year; tap to open its full calculation below. Pinch, or use + and −, to zoom; pan with two fingers. Dots under the timeline mark major tax laws.

Worksheet for 1955

Rate schedule

Wages vs. capital gains

Paycheck or portfolio?

What if the same income came from a stock index fund instead of a job? Investment income pays no Social Security or Medicare tax, and long-term capital gains have usually been taxed at lower rates than wages. How much lower has changed a lot over the century.

Share of income from the fund
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All from a paycheck From the fund Difference Income before tax

Take-home after federal taxes. Slide to read any year, tap to compare it in detail, pinch to zoom.

Every year as a table · amounts in each year's own dollars

How it's calculated

Each year, your salary goes through that year's federal rules the way a simple tax return would:

  • Subtract 401(k) contributions (from 1981), capped at that year's limit, to get adjusted gross income.
  • Subtract the larger of the standard deduction (from 1944) or your itemized deductions, then one exemption per person in the household. From 1977 to 1986 the standard deduction was built into the rate tables, so only itemized deductions above it count.
  • Apply that year's rate schedule, plus any across-the-board surcharges or reductions in force (such as the 1968–1970 Vietnam War surcharge).
  • Subtract the child tax credit (from 1998), including the refundable part, and from 2018 the $500 credit for older dependents, with that year's income limits.
  • For the fund comparison, apply that year's rules for dividends and long-term capital gains, and the 3.8% investment income tax from 2013.
  • Add the employee share of Social Security (from 1937) and Medicare (from 1966), up to that year's wage cap.

Adjusted for inflation converts your salary and itemized deductions into each year's dollars using the Consumer Price Index, so every year is taxed on a salary with the same buying power as yours today. The charts show those amounts as they were that year; the summaries and hover cards also give them in 2026 dollars. Not adjusted uses the exact amounts in every year, which shows how far bracket thresholds have moved with inflation. 401(k) money is shown separately: it leaves your paycheck, but it is still yours.

What's left out

  • The fund comparison assumes a 10% yearly return, the stock market's long-run average. Dividends follow that year's S&P 500 yield (the 2023 yield is used after 2023); the rest is cashed out as long-term gains on shares held over 10 years. Real returns swing widely from year to year, and only the growth you sell is taxed.
  • State and local income taxes.
  • The Earned Income Tax Credit, which matters for lower incomes with children, plus education and childcare credits and one-time rebates and stimulus payments.
  • Limits on itemized deductions, such as the state and local tax cap from 2018. Enter amounts after any cap.
  • The 1943 Victory Tax, 1920s–1940s earned-income relief, the Alternative Minimum Tax, and phase-outs of exemptions for high incomes.
  • Children count as dependents through age 18 (college students could stay dependents longer, which isn't modeled), and the adoption credit and childcare credits are not included. Married couples are assumed to have one earner. Before 1948 couples couldn't split income, so the single rate schedule is used with the married exemption.

Treat results as a well-informed estimate. They are close for a typical wage earner, and less precise for very high incomes and the earliest years.

Sources