Michael bought \(12\) concert tickets, each at the same price. Later, he resold all \(12\) tickets for the same higher

What we see: a Data Sufficiency percent question. We need Michael's profit after tax on 12 resold tickets.

Step 1. Write the profit after tax.
What we see: he makes the same profit on each ticket, and pays \(t\) percent tax on the profit.
What it means: call the profit per ticket \(p\). Profit before tax is \(12p\). After tax he keeps \((100 - t)\) percent of it: net \(= 12p \times \frac{100 - t}{100}\).
What we do and why: there are two unknowns, \(p\) and \(t\). We need both, or a way to get the whole expression at once.

Step 2. Statement 1 alone.
What we see: he sold each ticket for 40 dollars more than he paid.
What it means: \(p = 40\), so profit before tax is \(12 \times 40 = 480\) dollars. The tax rate \(t\) is still unknown, so the net could be 432 (10% tax) or 240 (50% tax).
What we do and why: not sufficient.

Step 3. Statement 2 alone.
What we see: with a tax rate 15 points higher, the net would be 360 dollars.
What it means: \(12p \times \frac{100 - (t + 15)}{100} = 360\). One equation, two unknowns. For example \(p = 40\), \(t = 10\) fits, and so does \(p = 50\), \(t = 25\) (\(600 \times 0.60 = 360\)). Those give nets of 432 and 450.
What we do and why: not sufficient.

Step 4. Both statements together.
What we see: profit before tax is 480, and \(480 \times \frac{85 - t}{100} = 360\).
What it means: \(\frac{85 - t}{100} = \frac{360}{480} = 0.75\), so \(85 - t = 75\) and \(t = 10\).
What we do and why: net \(= 480 \times 0.90 = 432\) dollars. One value. Sufficient.

The trap: (B). Statement 2 has a dollar figure, 360, so it looks like it fixes the profit. But it ties together two unknowns, the profit and the tax rate, and many pairs fit it.
Faster way: Statement 1 gives the before-tax profit, 480. Statement 2 says 15 more points of tax would leave 360. Then 360 out of 480 is 75%, so the higher rate is 25% and the real rate is 10%. Net is 90% of 480.
Takeaway: "15 percentage points higher" means add 15 to the rate, not raise it by 15 percent of itself.

Answer: C