Question

Last year Mr. John Q. Public received an inheritance. He paid $20\%$ in federal taxes on the inheritance, and paid $10\%$ of what he had left in state taxes. He paid a total of $\$10{,}500$ for both taxes. How many dollars was the inheritance?

$30{,}000$

$32{,}500$

$35{,}000$

$37{,}500$

$40{,}000$

Answer: D

Concepts:percentage work backwards

Difficulty rating: 1200

Solution:

After federal taxes, Mr. Public keeps $80\%$ of his inheritance.

He pays $10\%$ of that in state taxes, which is $8\%$ of the inheritance.

His total tax is $20\%+8\%=28\%$ of the inheritance, so the inheritance is $\$10{,}500/0.28=\$37{,}500.$

Thus, the correct answer is D.

2007 AMC 12A Problem 5

Answer: D

Difficulty rating: 1200

Solution:

Problem 5 in Other Years