AICPA TOTAL TAX CALCULATOR
On Tuesday, May 15th the AICPA introduced their first version of the “Total Tax Insight Calculator,” an online tool that provides you an estimate of how much your income goes to paying taxes, and not just on your tax return, but also on items like food, alcohol, cigarettes, and gas. The AICPA is hoping this calculator will be the first attempt to show citizens how tax exists and when it is imposed. It is the complete picture of your federal, state, and local tax spending.
AICPA Vice President, Edward Karl claims “the idea is to give the public a better idea of the various taxes that impact them.” You may know what you paid in taxes this past April for your Federal and State income returns, but do you realize how much you paid in state and local taxes on your purchases in the last year? This calculator has over 3,000 formulas that allow you to calculate an estimated tax amount based on 24 input options. Although it does not consider all the tax items and deductions you can take, the AICPA is hoping to use this calculator to come up with additional features that the users would like to see.
You must realize that this does not replace your tax preparation software or any tax planning items that you may currently use. This is just a fun tool to that allows you to see the different taxes you incur on items you purchase throughout the year. It could also help with weighing the impact of your purchase options. For example, how purchasing a fuel efficient car could not only help your environment but also the amount of taxes you pay on gas. Karl emphasis “this doesn’t place a valued CPA. It’s just about giving the public a rough sense of the impact of taxes in their lives.”
The AICPA hopes to create future versions of this calculator including features that would facilitate comparison among states as well as including more tax calculations, deductions and credits. Feedback from current users will help decide what the future versions will include.
Check out the calculator at the following link: Tax Calculator