Final answer:
To find the amount of tax you would pay for an item, multiply the cost of the item by the tax rate. In this case, the sales tax rate is 5.4% so you would pay $0.27 in taxes for the item.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the amount of tax you would pay for an item, you can multiply the cost of the item by the tax rate. In this case, the sales tax rate is 5.4%. So, to find the tax amount, you would multiply $5 (the cost before tax) by 0.054 (the decimal form of 5.4%).
$5 x 0.054 = $0.27
Therefore, you would pay $0.27 in taxes for the item.