Final answer:
To calculate taxes for a married couple with a taxable income of $45,059, apply the applicable tax rates to the defined income brackets, summing them to determine total tax liability.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine the tax for a married couple filing jointly with a taxable income amount of $45,059, we need to look at the IRS tax brackets for the appropriate year as they tend to change. Based on our information, suppose we have a progressive tax bracket where the rates increase as the income level increases. For simplicity, let's assume a scenario where the first $20,000 of income is taxed at 10%, and the income from $20,001 to $45,000 is taxed at a higher rate, say 15%.
First, we calculate the tax on the initial $20,000, which would be 10% of $20,000, resulting in a tax of $2,000. Next, we'd calculate the tax on the income over $20,000 but less than or equal to $45,059. That's $45,059 -$20,000 = $25,059 of income taxed at 15%, which would result in $3,758.85 in taxes.
Add both tax amounts to get the total tax: $2,000 + $3,758.85 = $5,758.85. Therefore, the total tax liability for a married couple filing jointly with a taxable income amount of $45,059 would be $5,758.85.