How does taxation work in America on a federal level and national level?

They go to both and then there are the city and county and townships. This question is very complicated and I wonder if anyone really knows the answer to it, even those who work in the government.

When I lived in Wisconsin, we had to file papers and pay State Tax and Federal Tax, and then there were property taxes that went to the city, and other utilities that were run by the city that had to be paid to them. I knew that the schools were funding mostly by local taxes, but the federal government also pitched in. Can’t remember how or how much. I knew there was federal funding for roads too, but I can’t remember how or how much.

I think there are ‘Programs’ that are run by State authorities and funded by federal government. Certain welfare programs for single mothers, for example. I am sure my sister knows more about this, she works for the State of Wisconsin.

I live in NY State. We fill out our Federal forms, and using the charts (or software) determine how much we owe. After the Federal form is complete, we fill out our state tax. Many of the numbers come from the Federal form. Roughly, state tax is about ⅓ of Federal. We also pay property and school taxed which goes to the Town and the County. That varies with how much property you own and the assessed value of your home.

The states have separate and distinct taxes from the federal government. Things like sales tax, property tax and state income taxes are collected by the state and doled out to the counties and cities. Federal taxes such as income tax are collected by the IRS. Things like roads are funded by the states but the federal government is chartered to pay for interstate hiways. There are a multitude of hidden taxes that are collected by both state and federal such as gas taxes or excise taxes, import duties and such. The federal government may transfer some monies to the states but generally with strings attached. The states will get the money if they perform certain actions.

The federal government spends a little over half of all the government spending in the US while the states spend slightly less than half. There’s a lot of duplication of efforts in all that.

In the U.S. “federal” = “national”, not sure if that’s different to other countries.

Adding to @LuckyGuy‘s description, New York City also levies taxes, they are collected by the state (for efficiency’s sake) and delivered to the treasury of the city.