so.. hmmm if we take "x" to be the 100% sale price before tax, $76 is really 9.5% of that
thus [tex]\bf \begin{array}{ccllll}
amount&\%\\
\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash&\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash\textendash\\
76&9.5\\
x&100
\end{array}\implies \cfrac{76}{x}=\cfrac{9.5}{100}[/tex]
solve for "x"