Schedule A is the form you use to figure out your itemized deductions, I worked through all of that and it was less than the standard deduction. The real limiting factor is that state and local taxes are capped at $10k. If I had made more charitable donations, I would have been able to have more deductions, but at the end of the day, that's still more money out of my pocket.

EDIT: Only medical expenses over 7.5% of your income is deductible and the interest I pay on my home isn't enough to eclipse the standard deduction.

I'm a software engineer, but all of my pay raises are from changing companies.

• I started 2012 working a part time job that would turn full time when I graduated, but I left for another job paying more when I graduated. ($65k salary)
• In 2013 I left that job and moved to Seattle to work for a large software company. ($100k salary)
• In 2017 I left that software company for another one. ($135k salary)
• In 2018 I left that one for another company ($165k salary)
• In 2022 I left that one for another company ($205k salary)

Every time I switched I also received signing bonuses and every job gave me stock bonuses to supplement my salary.

That's just how progressive tax brackets work. For example, the 2022 brackets for married filing jointly are:

• 10% on income up to $20,550
• $2,055 + 12% on excess income up to $83,550
• $9,615 + 22% on excess income up to $178,150
• $30,427 + 24% on excess income up to $340,100
• $69,295 + 32% on excess income up to $431,900
• $98,671 + 35% on excess income up to $647,850
• $174,253.50 + 37% on excess income

So for 2022 my taxable income was $278,077 and I only took the standard deduction of $25,900. I also had 401k contributions throughout the year, but I hadn't included any of those for previous years "total income" figures in the graph. So my federal income tax that I owed was $54,409 ($30,427+0.24*[278,077-178,150]). But I got to claim $6,000 with the child tax credit, reducing that to $49,055 (nearly a 10% reduction).

Also, our government subsidizes married couples and families. Married filing jointly tax brackets are much lower than individuals and the child tax credits don't start to fall off until I think around $400,000 household income.

Source: My tax returns

Tool: Google sheets

My effective tax rate was calculated by simply dividing the total amount I paid in taxes by my total income. I filed as married each year and we had kids in 2011, 2013, and 2017. My wife and I both graduated college in 2012 but she has stayed home with the kids since the first one was born. She returned to work for the last 3 months of 2022.