A raise into a higher tax bracket still leaves you with more: $753.50 of $1,000

No. A raise cannot leave you with less pay because of federal income tax. A single person going from $66,000 to $67,000 in 2026 crosses from the 12% band into the 22% band, and still keeps $753.50 of the $1,000.

Only the dollars above the line are taxed at the higher rate

The bands work like steps. Moving into a higher band changes the rate on the income inside that band, and on nothing below it. Everything you earned before the raise is taxed exactly as it was.

In this example the line falls in the middle of the raise. Half of the $1,000 is taxed at 12% and half at 22%:

• Federal income tax on the raise: $170.
• Social Security and Medicare on the raise: $76.50.
• Kept: $753.50.

The salary line that looks like a cliff is a step 10 points high, and it applies to $500 of income.

The same raise, lower down

Take a $1,000 raise that stays wholly inside the 12% band and $803.50 is kept. Crossing the line cost $50.00 of this one raise. That is the whole effect.

The take-home pay calculator shows both rates for any salary: the band the next dollar falls in, and the much lower share of the whole salary that goes in federal income tax.

Where a raise really can cost you

The bands never do it, but other rules can. Some credits and benefits are withdrawn as income rises, and a few stop at a fixed income with no taper. Someone near one of those limits can lose more than a raise brings in. Those rules are separate from the tax bands, differ by programme and by state, and are not worked out here.

What this leaves out

• State and local income tax. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare only.
• Credits and benefits that phase out. See above.
• Other filing statuses. The bands start at different incomes for a married couple filing jointly.

An estimate from the 2026 federal tables. Not tax advice.