True cost calculator

The sticker price is the smallest number.

Every purchase hides four more: the tax you paid to earn it, the tax you pay to buy it, what it costs to keep, and what the money would have become. Here they all are.

$
%
Annual income≈ $36/hr
Loading map…
You must earn1.85× sticker
$17

to cover a bar drink

Sticker
$9
Markup
85%
Your time
28 min
6% of a work day
Total to earn$17hover a band
  • Income tax (federal, FICA, state)30%$5
  • Sales tax4%$1
  • Tip12%$2
  • Bar drink54%$9
  • Income tax (federal, FICA, state)
  • Sales tax
  • Tip
  • Bar drink
Data for nerdssources, confidence, assumptions

Where each number comes from

ComponentAmountConfidence
Item price$9.00Your figureHigh confidence. You supplied this, so it is exact by definition.
Sales tax$0.74JurisdictionalMedium confidence. The right jurisdiction, but special districts within it can vary — bounded, and we know the range.
Tip$1.95Behavioural normMedium confidence. A convention rather than a fact, and editable — changing it moves the estimate with you.
Income tax to earn it$4.92StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness.

Jurisdiction applied

  • State: TX
  • Sales tax county: Harris County (Houston)
  • Local income tax: none selected

Assumptions

  • Sales tax applies at the standard rate — alcohol is broadly subject to general sales tax in addition to its embedded excise tax, unlike gasoline.
  • The default 20% tip is calculated on the total (drink + tax), matching typical bar tipping norms.

Sources

If this is a habit

$8,637 over 10 yrs
×

Bar drink, every week — $864 of income every year, and 24 hrs of your life.

$4k$8kyr 1yr 10
Spent $6kInvested instead $8khover or focus the chart
Income needed / yr
$864
before tax, to cover it
Growth given up
$2,320
at 7.0% a year, real
Life spent
6 work weeks
over 10 years
Year by year
YearSpentInvested instead
1$608$608
2$1,216$1,258
3$1,824$1,954
4$2,432$2,699
5$3,039$3,496
6$3,647$4,348
7$4,255$5,261
8$4,863$6,237
9$5,471$7,281
10$6,079$8,399

Prices and wages are held at today's levels, and the return above is inflation-adjusted to match — consistent by design. The invested-instead line assumes the cash is contributed at the end of each year and left alone; it is an alternative use of the same money, never an extra cost on top.

Your position in the tax system

29.65% on the next dollar

Every extra dollar you earn is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average one — which is why a purchase costs more to fund than a paycheck stub suggests.

Federal22%
FICA7.65%
TX0%
Combined29.65%
Next bracket at
$121,800
$46,800 away
This purchase
29.62%
average rate paid to fund it
Tax to earn it
$5
on top of the price

Marginal rates are read in gross-income terms: below the standard deduction an extra dollar of pay adds nothing to taxable income, so the true rate there is 0%, not the lowest bracket's. Excludes pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA), which would lower all three.

Same purchase, different state

TX is #7 of 51

Only income tax and sales tax move — the sticker price is held constant, so this is the part of the cost your address actually controls. Spread across all 51: $4, from New Hampshire to California.

  • $15
  • Texasyou$17
  • $19

Click a state name to compare against somewhere else.

Where every dollar goes

30% never reaches you

The $16.61 you must earn, followed to where it lands. Hover a band to isolate it.

  • Federal income tax$3.65
  • FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$1.27
  • Bar drink$9.00
  • Sales tax$0.74
  • Tip$1.95
To tax $4.92To the purchase $11.69

Each tax layer is the extra tax this purchase causes — that layer's tax at your income subtracted from its tax at your income plus the gross-up — so bracket boundaries the purchase straddles are handled correctly rather than smoothed over with an average rate.

Is a raise actually a raise?

you keep 70%

A raise arrives on top of everything you already earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — not the average rate on your whole salary.

Kept $7,035To tax $2,965
Take-home now
$61,593
82% of gross
Take-home after
$68,628
+$7,035 a year
Per month
$586
what actually lands

Federal, FICA, state and any local income tax — no pre-tax deductions, benefit changes, or payroll withholding quirks, all of which move the real figure. Moving into a higher bracket never taxes the income below the threshold: only the dollars above it pay the higher rate.

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