credits

Income tax is progressive: each bracket taxes only the slice of income that lands inside it, so 'moving into the 24% bracket' taxes only the dollars above that bracket's floor — never your whole paycheck. That single fact splits your tax into two numbers people constantly confuse: your marginal rate (your top bracket — the scary headline) and your effective rate (total tax over your whole income — what you really pay), which is always far lower. This lesson draws both at once: an amber marginal-rate staircase climbing the brackets, and a teal effective-rate curve that rises smoothly and stays well below it. The gap between them is what the bracket number hides. From there it separates the two tools that lower your bill: a deduction shrinks the income the brackets see (worth your marginal rate per dollar), while a credit comes straight off the tax owed dollar-for-dollar — drag each and watch the staircase slide right while the curve sinks. Along the way it kills the myth for good: because only the new dollars are taxed at the higher rate, a raise never lowers your take-home pay.