if everything stays the same tax-wise, how can i find out my tax liability for each year?

Question

same mortgage payment, job, bills paid. life is the same. how can i find out how much to give federal/state every year? shouldn't it be around the same amount, of course elevating slightly every year due to our gov't?

Answer 1

Everything being the same (your income and itemized deductions), your tax liability should go down every year slightly. The tax rate brackets and the personal exemption amounts are adjusted annually to reflect inflation. So if your income and itemized deductions were the same year to year, your liability would go down since more of your income would be taxed at a lower bracket each year.

Answer 2

The personal exemptions you get every year will increase by about $100 per year so it's farily easy to figure out what you'll owe next year. Your mortgage payment might stay the same but the amount that goes into interest which is the deductable part, goes down every year as more goes to principle each year.

The easiest way is to take the amount of taxes you payed last year less any refund or add money you owed and pay that amount.