This confused me also when I first started using ESPlanner five years ago.

Taxes are not included in "Total Spending".

If you look at the "Regular Assets" page of the PDF report, you will see how they account for everything. They take your "Total Income" number, subtract off "Total Spending", and then further subtract "Taxes". The result of that is the amount of "Saving" that is required. If "Saving" is a positive value, it is increases the amount of your "Regular Assets" in the next year. If "Saving" is negative, it reduces the amount of your "Regular Assets". (Rounding can sometimes make these numbers differ by a dollar.)

So, just keep in mind that taxes are not included in either discretionary spending or total spending. Think of it as not money you are "spending" at all but as money the government is taking.

John