The United States federal government taxes personal income using graduated scale. Income tax rates begin at 10% and gradually increase to 15%, then 25%, then 28%, then 33%, then 35%, and finally reaching a top rate of 39.6%. Each tax rate applies to a specific range of income. This range is called a tax bracket. Where each tax bracket begins and ends varies depending on a person’s filing status. Tax rates can also vary depending on the type of income a person has. Ordinary tax rates apply to most types of income. There’s a special tax rate schedule that applies to long-term capital gains and qualified dividends. Let’s first get an overview of all the tax rates for 2014. The chart below shows the ordinary tax rates (first column) and rate for long-term gains and qualified dividends (second column). The rest of the columns show the beginning and end of each tax bracket, grouped by filing status. It’s important to note that the dollar amounts represent taxable income — which is total worldwide income after various deductions have been subtracted.