Confused about your tax bracket? Check with the experts:

Your tax bracket is used to estimate the amount of additional tax you'll pay if your income increases or the amount you'll save if you can claim a deduction. If you're in the 25% tax bracket you can expect to pay about $250 additional tax if you have $1,000 additional taxable income. In the 15% tax bracket, a $200 deduction will save you about $30.

Congress establishes tax rates that apply to different levels of taxable income. Current law provides rates from 10% to 35%. The higher your income, the higher your tax rate. The range of income where you stay at any particular rate is known as a tax bracket. For a single person in 2004 the rate on taxable income between $29,050 and $70,350 is 25%. So those numbers establish the 25% bracket. If you're single and your taxable income is between those two numbers, your tax bracket is 25%.