Suppose you and your significant other just got married. One of your biggest concerns with purchasing a home is the price of taxes in the area. So$,$ you need to figure out what taxes are coming out of your paychecks and how much you may receive as a tax refund this upcoming year. You are both thinking of investing the money received in your tax refund into the stock market to possibly make some money to help pay off your house faster.

$1.$ Choose the house with the lowest property taxes. This is the house you and your significant other will buy. House $1$: Market Value: $$320,000,$ Assessment Rate: $48\%,$ Property Tax Rate: $$52\mathrm{.}10$ per $$1,000.$ House $2$: Market Value: $$310,900,$ Assessment Rate: $51\%,$ Property Tax Rate: $$49\mathrm{.}75$ per $$1,000.$ House $3$: Market Value: $$318,000,$ Assessment Rate: $54\%,$ Property Tax Rate: $$56\mathrm{.}35$ per $$1,0002.$

You and your significant other want to determine your total expected tax deductions for the year. You can deduct $$400$ for student loan interest, $$600$ for charitable contributions, and your property taxes that were found in the previous problem. What is your combined taxable income if you have a combined income of $$96,000?$

$3.$ You and your significant other plan to file your taxes as married filing jointly. Use the taxable income you found in the previous problem and the tax table below to determine what you will need to pay in federal taxes.

$4.$ Compute your tax by using the tax schedule below and your taxable income found in problem $2.$

$5.$ Use your tax owed from problem $3$ to determine if you would have a tax balance or a tax refund if $$14,525\mathrm{.}65$ was withheld from your paychecks for federal income taxes. How much is the tax balance or tax refund?

$6.$ Use the assessment rate and the property tax rate of the house chosen in problem $1$ to find the effective tax rate. Round to three places.

Use the following scenario to answer questions $7$ and $8.$ You and your significant other start looking into investing some of the extra money you have left over into the stock market. You have heard there is a new tech company that would be worth investing in$,$ so you decide to look up their stock prices. The tech company's stock closed at $$12\mathrm{.}20.$ The next day, the stock goes up $$1\mathrm{.}68$

$7.$ What is the new price of the stock?$8.$ What is the percent increase of the stock?

$9.$ The tech company seemed to be a good investment, so you purchased $75$ shares of stock. The company pays a dividend of $$0\mathrm{.}68$ per share. What is your total dividend?