Question

Tony, Juan, and Isabel live in a city where the combined state and local sales tax rate is 8%. They each purchased the same computer and paid $160 in sales tax. A 5-column table has 3 rows. The first column has entries Tony, Juan, Isabel. The second column is labeled Income with entries 10,000, 50,000, 75,000. The third column is labeled Cost of computer with entries 2,000, 2,000, 2,000. The fourth column is labeled Sales tax paid with entries 160, 160, 160. The fifth column is labeled tax rate with entries 1.6 percent, 0.32 percent, and 0.21 percent. This scenario describes a tax system. Isabel pays Tony and Juan on the computer. pays the highest tax rate on the computer. would be the most affected by an increase in the sales tax rate.

Answer 1

Answer:

Tony pays the highest tax rate on the computer, not based on the nominal sales tax rate, but on the percentage that the tax represents of his total income.

His income is $10,000, and he pays $160 in sales tax, for an effective rate of 1.6%.

The person who would be the most affected by an increase in the sales tax rate is again, Tony, simply because he has the lowest income. Juan and Isabel would also be affected by a sales tax increase, but on a much lower scale (because their incomes are also a lot larger).