With Traditional IRA's, you do not pay taxes on any contributions you make to the account. And the contributions you make may be tax deductible (and may lower your current tax depending on your income). When it comes time to withdraw the money from your Traditional IRA account, you will need to pay taxes on those distributions.
With Roth IRA's, you do pay taxes on any contributions to the account and contributions are never tax deductible. But later, any money withdrawn is tax free (since the taxes have already been paid) and the distributions are not included in your income. BUT- watch out! If you withdraw before you turn 59 ½ (I know- seems like a random age, but it is important!) you may have to pay an additional 10% penalty tax. (But as always, there are exceptions to this rule- FYI exceptions are pretty common in the finance world.)
To help you remember:
Traditional IRA- Pay after --"It's a tradition to be free first and pay later"
Roth- Pay before --"Face the 'Roth' of the taxes first and enjoy the freedom later"
Oh and "Roth" is named after Senator William V Roth Jr who introduced Roth IRA's as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. So he is a pretty cool guy. And he represented Delaware, which is also...uh...cool?
