Marginal ordinary bracket
In FedTaxEst, the marginal bracket is the ordinary rate applied to the last dollar of taxable income. If your taxable income sits in the 22% slice, the next dollar of taxable income is also taxed at 22% — until you reach the next edge. Dollars already stacked in the 10% and 12% slices stay there.
Effective rate
Effective rate here is estimated federal income tax divided by adjusted gross income. Because the deduction and the lower slices pull the average down, the effective rate is usually well below the marginal bracket.
A worked sketch
Take a single filer in 2026 with $72,000 of wages, no adjustments, and the $16,100 standard deduction. Taxable income is $55,900. The first $12,400 is taxed at 10%, the next $38,000 at 12%, and the remaining $5,500 at 22%. Tentative tax is about $7,010. The marginal bracket is 22%. The effective rate on $72,000 of AGI is about 9.7%.
Load that case from the calculator exampleand watch the slice table. Then compare a joint return or an itemized total on the bracket anddeduction pages.
What this comparison still misses
Payroll taxes, state income tax, capital-gains rates, phaseouts, and credits can move both “rates” people talk about. A raise can also change eligibility for credits. Treat the two percentages on the results card as teaching labels, not planning targets.