Question

percents
finding the rate of a tax or commission
an item costs $420 before tax, and the sales tax is $21.
find the sales tax rate. write your answer as a percentage.

Explanation:

Step1: Define tax rate formula

Tax rate = $\frac{\text{Sales Tax}}{\text{Pre-tax Cost}} \times 100\%$

Step2: Substitute given values

$\text{Tax rate} = \frac{21}{420} \times 100\%$

Step3: Calculate the ratio first

$\frac{21}{420} = 0.05$

Step4: Convert to percentage

$0.05 \times 100\% = 5\%$

Answer:

$5\%$