<prompt> Human: Lets assume that you are living the in U.S. as a single individual in a state that does not charge personal income tax. It is my understanding that if you make between 36,900 to 89,350, the federal government places you in a tax bracket of 25. If you make between 89,350 to 186,350, you are in a tax bracket of 28. So the person who makes 89k a year has a take home pay of 66,750 while the promotion to 91k reduces the yearly take home pay to 65,520. Is this correct? Would it be beneficial for the individual to deny this promotion? Does the individual who now makes 91k receive a tax return at the end of the year that is greater than the difference in take home pay and tax return amount of the 88k salary? Could someone explain this to me?  <response>: No. You dont understand how tax brackets work. Lets illustrate with a very simplified example: Lets say you are a single taxpayer with a taxable income of 80,000. As you can see from the chart, you are in the 25 tax bracket. Does that mean youre paying a quarter of your taxable income, or 20,000, to the government? No. Phew! Instead, each chunk of your income that falls into a bracket is taxed at a different rate. 8,700 of your income will be taxed at a 10 rate. The next portion of the income you made between 8,700 and 35,350 or 26,650 in total will be taxed at a 15 rate. And the remaining portion that you made above 35,351 will be taxed at a 25 rate. That means that after deductions and exemptions, even though you are in the 25 tax bracket, you are only paying 22 of your taxable income. We like that much better.Assuming tax brackets stay the same and you live in the same place, as far as I know theres no way to get a raise and have less money thats yours aside from pre tax things like 401ks youll never take home less as far as I know, but thats still your money. 