Where did my income tax go?

Enter what you paid in personal income tax for FY2025-26 and see how the Union government's own spending plan for that same year allocated your share — based on the Union Budget 2025-26.

Budget Estimates (BE) 2025-26, presented 1 February 2025 · Figures from the Ministry of Finance's Budget at a Glance

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What you paid in personal income tax for FY2025-26 (April 2025 – March 2026) — see Form 26AS or your ITR acknowledgment (AY2026-27)

Illustrative allocation — not an actual tracing of your tax payment.

The ₹50.65 lakh crore budget splits three ways: Scheme Expenditure (₹21.64 lakh crore — money tied to a specific programme), Transfers, Establishment & Other Expenditure (₹29.01 lakh crore — interest, pensions, salaries, transfers to states) and, within transfers, the unconditional states' share of taxes. Here's what's inside each, using the Ministry of Finance's own "Budget Profile" breakdown.

Central Sector Schemes₹16.22 lakh crore
— of which, Subsidy₹4.26 lakh crore
Transfers, Establishment & Other Expenditure₹29.01 lakh crore

Source: Budget at a Glance, "Budget Profile," BE 2025-26. Note: "Central Sector Schemes" here (₹16.22 lakh crore, includes defence procurement & subsidies) is a different, broader definition than the "Central Sector Schemes" slice in the By Function tab (8%/16% figures there exclude defence capital and major subsidies) — the two budget documents categorise the same spending differently.

Where the states' share actually goes

This ₹ lakh crore is unconditional — once devolved, it becomes part of each state's own budget, spent entirely at that state's discretion (salaries, pensions, roads, welfare schemes, anything). The Union government doesn't track how it's spent. What is tracked is which states get how much, set by the 15th Finance Commission's formula (income distance 45%, population 15%, area 15%, forest & ecology 10%, demographic performance 12.5%, tax effort 2.5%).
StateFormula shareYour contribution

Top Centrally Sponsored Schemes

Co-funded with states — the Union sets the programme, states help run it. Ranked by BE 2025-26 allocation.

SchemeBE 2025-26Your share

Top Central Sector Schemes

Fully Union-funded, run directly by central ministries. Ranked by BE 2025-26 allocation among schemes with an identifiable public purpose (generic procurement/accounting heads excluded).

SchemeBE 2025-26Your share

Source: Budget at a Glance, "Outlay on Major Schemes" (schemes with BE 2025-26 allocation over ₹1,000 crore), Ministry of Finance.

Did you know?

Policy in context

MGNREGA was still the operative scheme all through FY2025-26

Source: Budget at a Glance, "Outlay on Major Schemes," BE 2025-26; PIB — President's assent to the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025 (for context on the later repeal), PRS Legislative Research bill track

The 22% "states' share" isn't the same as the Finance Commission's 41%

The 15th Finance Commission (2021-26 award period, chaired by N.K. Singh) set the states' vertical devolution share at 41% of the divisible pool — the same headline number the 16th Finance Commission later retained for 2026-31. The 22% figure in the chart above is a different number: it's states' tax devolution as a share of total Union government spending, which is a smaller base than the divisible pool (the divisible pool excludes cesses, surcharges and the cost of collection, which have grown as a share of gross tax revenue over the past decade — one reason states have long argued the effective devolution is lower than the headline 41%).

Source: 15th Finance Commission Main Report, Vol. I, Chapter 6 (fincomindia.nic.in) — summarised by PRS Legislative Research

Methodology & assumptions

Data

  • Figures are the original Budget Estimates (BE) 2025-26 — the plan as of 1 Feb 2025, before the fiscal year began — not the mid-year Revised Estimates or final CAG-audited actuals.
  • This is deliberate: it's the year-matched companion to the FY2026-27 tool, so the tax you paid and the spending plan it's compared against are pinned to the same fiscal year, rather than your latest tax payment being mapped onto a different year's budget.

"Your share" calculation

  • Covers income tax only — not GST, customs, or excise you also pay.
  • The 1.4487× multiplier assumes tax money is pooled, not earmarked: it reflects the deficit split proportionally across all revenue sources, not something specific to income tax.

By Function tab

  • Defence % here excludes capital acquisitions & pensions — see By Ministry for the full figure.

By Ministry tab

  • Only the top 12 ministries are shown individually; the rest are bucketed as "All other."
  • The Finance line bundles interest, pensions, and state transfers into one number.

Scheme & Transfer Details tab

  • Scheme lists cover only schemes over ₹1,000 crore ("Outlay on Major Schemes") — smaller schemes aren't shown.
  • The Central Sector Schemes list excludes generic procurement/accounting line items by editorial choice.
  • "Central Sector Schemes" has two different official definitions across budget documents — the % in By Function excludes defence capital & subsidies; the ₹16.22L cr figure here includes them.
  • "PM Awas Yojana – Urban" combines the original PMAY-Urban and PMAY-Urban 2.0 allocations.
  • The states' table covers tax devolution only — Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Finance Commission grants to states follow separate, non-formula allocations.
  • Only the top 8 states are shown individually; the rest are "All other states & UTs."

"Did You Know" cards

  • Jet cost is from one December 2025 order (within FY2025-26) — actual per-unit cost varies by deal.
  • "Taxpayers needed to fund X" assumes everyone pays exactly your amount.
  • Per-second figures assume spending is spread evenly across the year — real government spending is uneven.
  • PM POSHAN cost shown is the primary-school rate effective May 2025 (within FY2025-26); upper-primary is higher.

Sources