To find the tax Sue owes, we need to break her taxable income into the two relevant brackets and compute the tax for each part separately. Her taxable income is [tex]$30,000, which falls into the first two tax brackets provided in the table.
Here is the step-by-step breakdown of the calculation:
1. First Bracket ($[/tex]0 - [tex]$9,875) at 10%
- Calculate the tax for the first $[/tex]9,875 at a rate of 10%.
- Tax for the first bracket: [tex]\( 9,875 \times 0.10 = 987.5 \)[/tex]
2. Second Bracket ([tex]$9,876 - $[/tex]30,000) at 12%
- Calculate the tax for the remaining income up to [tex]$30,000 within the second bracket.
- This amount is: \( 30,000 - 9,875 = 20,125 \)
- Tax for the second bracket: \( 20,125 \times 0.12 = 2,415 \)
3. Total Tax
- Combine the tax from both brackets to get the total tax owed.
- Total tax: \( 987.5 + 2,415 = 3,402.5 \)
Thus, the correct way to compute the tax Sue owes is:
\[ 10\% \times \$[/tex]9,875 + 12\% \times (\[tex]$30,000 - \$[/tex]9,875) \]
Hence, the correct answer is:
D. [tex]\( 10\% \times \$9,875 + 12\% \times (\$30,000 - \$9,875) \)[/tex]
