Question

Advanced algebra PLEASE HELP?
Jeffrey earned a gross income of $67,930 last year. He made $2,173.93 in student loan interest deductions, donated $2,824 to his favorite charities and paid $3,117.56 in home mortgage interest. Jeffrey claims a standard deduction of $11,400 for himself and his non-working spouse. If their exemption is $7,300, what is their taxable income?


a. $47,056.07

b. $52,514.51

c. $43,938.51

d. $41,114.51

Answer 1

according to this page

http://www.obliviousinvestor.com/the-difference-between-exemptions-deductions-and-credits/

it says that

"Every year, you have the choice to use either:

1. The sum of all of your itemized deductions, or
2. The standard deduction
"

Answer 2

ok

Answer 3

sorry looking something else up

Answer 4

I'll finish up in a sec

Answer 5

ok haha

Answer 6

what this means is that if Jeffrey knew what he was doing with his taxes, or he went to a competent accountant, then he would pick the option that would lower his taxable income as much as possible

the itemized deductions are:

$2,824 for charities
$3,117.56 in home mortgage interest


they add up to this

2824+3117.56 = 5941.56

since this sum of 5941.56 is NOT greater than the standard deduction of 11400, this means that Jeffrey will choose the standard deduction over the itemized deductions

Answer 7

it turns out that the student loan interest payments are NOT itemized, which means that he can include that deduction with the standard deduction

so this means that his taxable income is


(gross income) - (student loan interest deduction) - (standard deduction) - (exemption)


67930 - 2173.93 - 11400 - 7300


47,056.07

Answer 8

what does this all mean? it means that instead of taxing the initial $67,930 he made, the deductions and exemption allow only $47,056.07 to be taxed

this generally means that a lower tax rate is applied (since he might be in a lower tax bracket) and less money would be paid to the state/federal government

Answer 9

whew it took me a little bit but now I get it! will you help me with two more? @jim_thompson5910

Answer 10

yeah it took me a while to find and process it all too

Answer 11

sure I can try

Answer 12

Use the Married Filing Jointly Tax Brackets chart to answer the question that follows:



Zeb and his wife have a taxable income of $183,975. What is their tax liability?

a. $39,756.50

b. $51,513.00

c. $13,069.00

d. $78,200.50

Answer 13

do you have the charts?

Answer 14

thanks

Answer 15

look in the taxable income column (ie the first column)

where does the number 183975 fall? which row?

Answer 16

:) no thank you!

Answer 17

does that make sense what I'm asking?

Answer 18

not at all no

Answer 19

for instance, if their taxable income was $10,000 this would mean that they would be in the first tax bracket since 10000 is between 0 and 16750

see how I'm getting this?

Answer 20

yes yes yes ok now I see it!

Answer 21

so where does 183975 fall?

Answer 22

which tax bracket?

Answer 23

10%?

Answer 24

don't worry about the percentages

which row does the 183975 fall into? look at the numbers in column 1 and see where 183975 fits in

Answer 25

is 183975 between 0 and 16750?

is 183975 between 16750 and 6800?

etc etc

keep going til you find the spot where 183975 fits in

Answer 26

oh! the 4th bracket!

Answer 27

perfect

Answer 28

what are the rules for that bracket

write them out for me please

Answer 29

the rules are found on the right

so for instance, the rule for the first bracket is "10% of the amount"

Answer 30

36,687.50 plus 28% of the amount over 137,300?

Answer 31

ok so what we first do is calculate the difference between 183975 and 137300


183975 - 137300 = ???

Answer 32

I got 46675?

Answer 33

now take 28% of that difference to get _____

Answer 34

how do I do that?

Answer 35

28% of 46675 = 0.28*46675 = ???

Answer 36

yay! I got it ahhhh! thank you so much! okay haah one more :p

Answer 37

Orion is catering a dinner party for more than 30 guests. Each guest has a choice between a vegetarian dinner or a steak dinner. The vegetarian dinner is $20 per plate and the steak dinner is $30 per plate. Orion can spend no more than $770 on the entire party. If Orion wants to purchase the most amount of food and still stay within budget, which combination of vegetarian and steak dinners is optimal?
a. (28, 7)

b. (22, 11)

c. (37, 1)

d. (34, 3)

Answer 38

ok one sec

Answer 39

ok lol

Answer 40

oh wait, we didn't finish up the last one

Answer 41

you took 28% of that figure, what did you get?

Answer 42

13069 :)

Answer 43

now add 36,687.50 to that answer to get the final tax liability (ie the total amount you owe in taxes)

Answer 44

48756.5?

Answer 45

oh sry, it's 26687.50 (made a typo)

so this means that you get

13,069 + 26687.50 = 39,756.50

Answer 46

I thout so since it was only one number off lol! thank you so much for helping me!

Answer 47

np

Answer 48

what about the graph?

Answer 49

how far did you get with this one

Answer 50

I don't know how to do it

Answer 51

ok one sec

Answer 52

okie dokie1

Answer 53

have you learned about linear programming?

Answer 54

mm that doesn't ring a bell no

Answer 55

have you graphed inequalities at all before?

Answer 56

I think but it was a loooong time ago

Answer 57

hmm alright, let me think on a way to explain it then

Answer 58

ok :)

Answer 59

let x = # of vegetarian dinners and y = # of steak dinners

since "The vegetarian dinner is $20 per plate and the steak dinner is $30 per plate", we know that the total cost C is

C = 20x + 30y

Answer 60

each point given as an answer choice represents a possible combo

example: the point (28,7) represents the idea that x = 28 and y = 7

so x = 28 and y = 7 means that 28 vegetarian dinners were served and 7 steak dinners were served

making sense so far?

Answer 61

so far yes:) took me a little bit though

Answer 62

that's ok, take all the time you need

Answer 63

so if x = 28 and y = 7, then what is C?