How the U.S. Tax System Works

The U.S. Tax System is a progressive tax system. This means that the tax you pay on each dollar of earnings will increase as your income moves above each tax bracket per your filing status.
Your marginal tax rate is better known as the current tax bracket you are in. The word “marginal” simply means that each additional dollar of earnings will be taxed at your corresponding tax bracket.
To illustrate how the progressive tax system and marginal tax rates work, let’s look at an example:
Let’s assume your earnings will place you in the 24% tax bracket for 2019.
In this case, not all of your earnings are taxed a rate of 24%. For married taxpayers, the first $19,400 of earnings are only taxed at a 10% rate. The next $59,550 of earnings are taxed at a 12% rate, and so on. It’s important to note that your earnings are not taxed at a flat rate equal to your marginal rate; rather the tax scales up as your earnings increase.
The ultimate goal of this page is to educate you on real estate tax strategies that you can use to decrease your effective tax rate.
Your effective tax rate measures the tax you actually pay on your total earnings. Quite often, rental real estate will produce positive cash flow but negative taxable income. This means that you receive income that you are not paying tax on, in the current year, which ultimately reduces your effective tax rate.

The U.S. Tax System is a progressive tax system. This means that the tax you pay on each dollar of earnings will increase as your income moves above each tax bracket per your filing status.
Your marginal tax rate is better known as the current tax bracket you are in. The word “marginal” simply means that each additional dollar of earnings will be taxed at your corresponding tax bracket.
To illustrate how the progressive tax system and marginal tax rates work, let’s look at an example:
Let’s assume your earnings will place you in the 24% tax bracket for 2019.
In this case, not all of your earnings are taxed a rate of 24%. For married taxpayers, the first $19,400 of earnings are only taxed at a 10% rate. The next $59,550 of earnings are taxed at a 12% rate, and so on. It’s important to note that your earnings are not taxed at a flat rate equal to your marginal rate; rather the tax scales up as your earnings increase.
The ultimate goal of this page is to educate you on real estate tax strategies that you can use to decrease your effective tax rate.
Your effective tax rate measures the tax you actually pay on your total earnings. Quite often, rental real estate will produce positive cash flow but negative taxable income. This means that you receive income that you are not paying tax on, in the current year, which ultimately reduces your effective tax rate.

The U.S. Tax System is a progressive tax system. This means that the tax you pay on each dollar of earnings will increase as your income moves above each tax bracket per your filing status.
Your marginal tax rate is better known as the current tax bracket you are in. The word “marginal” simply means that each additional dollar of earnings will be taxed at your corresponding tax bracket.
To illustrate how the progressive tax system and marginal tax rates work, let’s look at an example:
Let’s assume your earnings will place you in the 24% tax bracket for 2019.
In this case, not all of your earnings are taxed a rate of 24%. For married taxpayers, the first $19,400 of earnings are only taxed at a 10% rate. The next $59,550 of earnings are taxed at a 12% rate, and so on. It’s important to note that your earnings are not taxed at a flat rate equal to your marginal rate; rather the tax scales up as your earnings increase.
The ultimate goal of this page is to educate you on real estate tax strategies that you can use to decrease your effective tax rate.
Your effective tax rate measures the tax you actually pay on your total earnings. Quite often, rental real estate will produce positive cash flow but negative taxable income. This means that you receive income that you are not paying tax on, in the current year, which ultimately reduces your effective tax rate.

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