Question

The sales tax for an item was $18.80 and it cost $470 before tax.

Find the sales tax rate. Write your answer as a percentage.

Answer 1

To calculate the sales tax rate, divide the amount of sales tax ($18.80) by the cost before tax ($470) and then multiply by 100% to get the rate as a percentage, which is 4% in this case.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the sales tax rate, we first need to understand that the sales tax rate is the percentage of the total cost that represents the tax. The formula to calculate the sales tax amount is:

Amount of sales tax = price × rate of sales tax

In this case, the amount of sales tax is $18.80 and the item costs $470 before tax. To find the sales tax rate as a percentage, we need to divide the amount of sales tax by the price of the item:

Sales tax rate = (Amount of sales tax ÷ Cost before tax) × 100%

Sales tax rate = ($18.80 ÷ $470) × 100%

Now, convert the rate to a percentage:

Sales tax rate = 0.04 × 100%

Sales tax rate = 4%

Therefore, the sales tax rate for the item is 4%.