The regular price of a t-shirt is $9.99 . It is on sale for 15% off. Sales tax is 6%. If you give the cashier a $10 bill, how much change will you receive?

Question

must show all work

Answer 1

I made a comment but it did not get posted.

It does not matter to you the consumer what gets applied first, the tax or the discount, you pay the same price no matter what. However, the seller loses money if the tax is applied first because he/she has to pay more tax and sell you the item for the same price.

$9.99 t-shirt at 15% off means you pay only 85%

$9.99*85%=$9.99*0.85=$8.49

now pay the tax of 6%

6%*$8.49=$0.51 tax

$8.49+$0.51=$9.00 is what you pay

$10.00-$9.00=$1.00 change back

 

pay the tax first...

$9.99*6%=$9.99*0.06=$0.60 tax

$9.99+$0.60=$10.59

now take the discount of 15% which means you pay only 85%

85%*$10.59=0.85*$10.59=$9.00

$10.00-$9.00=$1.00 change back

you paid the same price but the seller paid $0.60 tax compared to $0.51 tax

the seller lost money; day after day, week after week, year after year-and what if the item cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars ??

I don't know if any state applies the tax first and the discount second. I would think that it would be up to the seller who would obviously discount the item first.

 

Answer 2

Does the tax apply to the original price or to the discounted price?  It depends on the state in which you live.

Regular price = $9.99

Discount = 15% = 0.15 x $9.99 = 1.50

Discounted price = $9.99 - $1.50 = 8.49

Tax (applied to the discounted price) = $8.49 x 0.06 = $0.51

Total price = $8.49 + $0.51 = $9.00

Change received from $10 = $10 - $9.00 = $1.00

(If tax is applied to original price, then tax = $9.99 x 0.06 = 0.60; total price = $8.49 + $.60 = $9.09; change received from $10 = $0.91).