With few exceptions the price you see something listed for is not the actual amount of money you’re going to pay – because you need to be prepared to pay sales tax as well. On smaller items the amount itself isn’t much, but it can be hard to figure out in your head when the area has a sales tax rate that is fractions of a percent, and on larger items – like buying cars, boats, or other big ticket items – it can add up because even when the sales tax is a single digit percent, it can grow to be thousands of dollars when the total purchase price is in the tens of thousands. So use our Sales Tax Calculator as a guide to estimate the sales tax you will need to pay once you know the pre-tax purchase price and sales tax rate.