An item costs $310 before tax, and the sales tax is $18. Find the sales tax rate. Write your answer as a percentage.
Answer (1)
Divide the sales tax amount by the original cost: 310 18 .
Multiply the result by 100 to express it as a percentage: 310 18 × 100 .
Calculate the sales tax rate: 5.806451612903226 .
Round the percentage to two decimal places: 5.81% .
Explanation
Understanding the Problem The problem provides the cost of an item before tax ($310) and the sales tax amount ($18). The goal is to find the sales tax rate as a percentage.
Plan of Action To find the sales tax rate, we need to divide the sales tax amount by the original cost of the item and then multiply by 100 to express the result as a percentage.
Calculating the Sales Tax Rate The sales tax rate is calculated as follows:
Sales Tax Rate = Original Cost Sales Tax Amount × 100
In this case:
Sales Tax Rate = 310 18 × 100
Calculating the value:
Sales Tax Rate = 0.05806451612903226 × 100 = 5.806451612903226
Rounding to two decimal places, we get 5.81%.
Final Answer The sales tax rate is approximately 5.81%.
Examples
Understanding sales tax rates is crucial in everyday financial transactions. For instance, if you're buying a new gadget for $500 and the sales tax rate is 6%, you can calculate the additional cost due to tax by multiplying $500 by 0.06, which equals $30. Therefore, the total cost of the gadget would be $530. Knowing how to calculate sales tax helps you budget effectively and understand the true cost of your purchases.
