“Nothing about taxes is simple or easy.”
That’s according to former Microsoft CEO and billionaire Steve Ballmer in a recent video from USAFacts, explaining how U.S. taxes work. If you’ve ever tried to understand a complex tax question, you know he’s not wrong. In fact, solving tax problems and questions is a big part of what we do.
USAFacts is Ballmer’s pet project focused on sharing and explaining data on a wide array of subjects. We previously published an explainer from USAFacts about why everything is still so expensive, even though inflation is down.
The video is almost 17 minutes long, which is kinda of a lot, even if it’s about a fascinating topic, like taxes. So, we’ve broken the video down for you, in case you want to hop around to the parts that interest you most.
You can watch the video in its entirety here:
- Who is Steve Ballmer
- What is USAFacts
- Disclaimer:
- S. revenue collected in 2024
- Defining FICA
- Corporate income taxes
- Other federal taxes
- How income taxes work
- 2025 standard deductions
- Itemized deductions
- Tax brackets
- Capital gains
- Tax credits
- Who pays what
- How much people actually pay
- State and local taxes (did you know 21 states don’t collect taxes on the sales of diapers?)
- Tax bracket changes over time
- What taxpayers pay
- Corporate taxes
- Looking ahead on taxes
Got a question about your taxes? Let us know.