Tax & tip drills

Compute sales tax, tips, and their combined totals.

Free, timed SHSAT practice sets on tax & tip— every question includes a full worked explanation, and there's no account required.

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How to solve sales tax and tip problems

Tax and tip are both a percent added on to a bill.

  1. Find the percent of the right amount: tax = price × rate.
  2. Add it to the price. Or do both steps at once: a 6% tax means multiply by 1.06.

Example: a 45-dollar item with 6% tax costs \(45 \times 1.06 = 47.70\) dollars.

When there is tax and a tip, read which amount the tip is based on. If both are figured on the pre-tax bill, add the rates: 8% tax plus a 15% tip on 60 dollars is \(60 \times 1.23 = 73.80\) dollars.

Traps:

Worked examples

Example 1.
A basketball costs \(\$15.00\) before tax. Sales tax is 5%. What is the total cost, including tax?
Show answer and explanation
Answer:
D

Tax \(= \$15.00 \times 5/100 = \$0.75\); total \(= \$15.00 + \$0.75 = \$15.75\). (Reporting only the tax gives $0.75. Using \(0.5\) instead of \(0.05\) for the tax rate gives $22.50. Adding \(\$5\) instead of 5% gives $20.00.)

Example 2.
A meal at a diner costs \(\$59.00\) before tax. Sales tax is 5%, and a 20% tip is left on the pre-tax amount. What is the total cost, including tax and tip?
Show answer and explanation
Answer:
C

Tax \(= \$59.00 \times 5/100 = \$2.95\); tip \(= \$59.00 \times 20/100 = \$11.80\) (both on the pre-tax amount); total \(= \$73.75\). (Figuring the tip on the after-tax amount (\(20\%\) of $61.95) gives $74.34. Forgetting to add the tax gives $70.80. Forgetting to add the tip gives $61.95.)