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The WashingtonPost.com Flat Tax Calculator

By Sascha Segan
WashingtonPost.com Staff

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) wants to make the District a cheaper place to live.

Norton's new flat tax plan, endorsed by Newt Gingrich, would slash personal income taxes for D.C. residents. Whether you live in D.C., Maryland, Virginia or anywhere else, you can use this calculator to find out how much you'd save if you lived in the District under the new plan.

  • Read a Post story from last December summarizing the plan and describing its supporters and opponents.
  • Find the details of her plan on Norton's Congressional home page.
  • Read the most recent Post story about the plan's legislative status.
  • See what Norton's up to with recent stories from the Post.

    For residents of the metro area, this calculator will roughly figure your total tax bill, including state and local taxes, and compare them to a DC tax bill under Norton's plan. If you live somewhere else, it will calculate your Federal tax and allow you to see how much Federal tax you would save under the flat tax plan.

    To use the calculator, select your area of residence and your filing status from the pulldown menus. Then enter your taxable income before standard exemptions. (This calculator doesn't handle itemized deductions. It's not for your accountant; it's just for fun.)

    Finally, enter the number of children you have (to compute the Earned Income Tax Credit) and number of exemptions you take on your Federal and state tax forms. Press Compute, and find what your bonus prize would be for moving into the District!

    This calculator requires a JavaScript-compatible browser such as the latest versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer. If you're running an older browser, install Netscape 3.0 and come back.

    Your jurisdiction is: You file as:

    Please do not enter commas, periods or dollar signs in the boxes below. Enter values as 25000 - not 25,000.
    Your taxable income, before standard exemptions, is $

    You have kids. You take standard exemptions. Typically, you take one for yourself, one for your spouse and one for each of your children.

    Note: Maryland local tax will be computed using the standard deduction method.

    Results

    You currently pay in Federal tax and in state and local tax.

    This makes in total tax.

    Under the Norton plan, if you lived in the District and worked in the Washington-Baltimore area, you would pay in Federal tax and in District local tax for a total tax burden of .

    This would save you .

    The savings would be enough to buy you

    Press the Back button on your browser to return to the previous page.

    Notes: Tax figures are for 1996 estimates and were obtained from the Maryland and Virginia Departments of Taxation, the Federation of Tax Administrators and the Internal Revenue Service. The tax figures returned by this calculator will be somewhat inaccurate because it doesn't take into account a host of deductions, but the estimate will come out pretty close to the truth. If you have any questions, send me a message.

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    © 1996 The Washington Post Company