Asked by ny

Ethan is a nurse and earns $48,000 per year.

Ethan lives in California and pays about 6 percent of his income in state income taxes.
The sales tax rate in his community is 8 percent.
Diamond is an accountant and earns $50,000 per year.

Diamond lives in Arizona and pays about 3 percent of her income in state income taxes.
The sales tax rate in her community is 9.5 percent.
Ethan and Diamond are calculating their taxes for the year. They both have no dependents, so their federal tax rates are the same.

Who will pay more in federal income taxes?



Who will pay more in sales taxes when making purchases?

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Federal income tax: Diamond.
Because they face the same federal tax rate, the person with the higher income pays more federal tax (50,000 > 48,000).

Sales tax: Diamond.
Her local sales tax rate is higher (9.5% vs 8%), and she also has the higher income. If you assume they spend the same amount, Diamond pays more per dollar of purchases; if you assume they spend all their income, the annual sales-tax amounts would be:
- Ethan: 0.08 × $48,000 = $3,840
- Diamond: 0.095 × $50,000 = $4,750