Your Income Tax: Brackets, Withholding, and Your Refund

In this episode of Money Lessons, Andy explains how the federal income tax is calculated, starting with four definitions every taxpayer needs: taxable income, the tax bracket, the marginal rate, and the effective rate.

He works a single filer's 2026 tax one bracket at a time to show why someone in the 22 percent bracket pays about 13 percent, and why a raise never leaves you with less after tax.

From there he explains how an employer estimates withholding every payday, why a refund is your own money coming back without interest, and how the Form W-4 lets you change that estimate at any time.