Q22

[asafezrati]

Why is D incorrect?
Passage A says some bad stuff on progressive tax in lines 21-26.
Passage B rejects some criticism in its first paragraph.

Maybe it's because paragraph A doesn't treat the information in a negative way and instead brings it to prove a different point?

[ohthatpatrick]

Without getting too nuanced, I would say both passages were addressing this question: "Which is better, the flat tax or the graduated one?"

Psg A seems to endorse the flat tax, while psg B seems to endorse the graduated one.

(A) The feasibility of implementing a flat tax doesn't seem to be debated. It's the desirability of doing so that these authors care about.

(B) We have a memorable line from psg B that answers this question: "People, not dollars, are treated equally". Does Psg A provide an answer to this question? Only lines 12-16 deal with the graduated tax, and they don't seem to directly address whether all taxpayers are treated equally.

(C) Psg A seems to take up this question in lines 11-17. People argue that the flat tax is unfair, and the author ultimately argues "not so". Meanwhile, psg B ends with 53-58, in which the author says that the middle class will be burdened with picking up the tax savings of the poor/rich. Though this author doesn't use the term 'fair', it seems like (C) might be the closest thing we get to our simple pre-phrase "is a flat tax good or bad?"

(D) Psg A never provides any clear objections to progressive taxes. The line reference cited (lines 21-26) describes how high earners, by looking for loopholes in the tax code, end up paying around the same in a progressive vs. flat tax system. Is that an objection to progressive tax systems? Could be, depending on your point of view, but we have no keywords in the text that indicate negativity.

No matter what, we know that Psg A was concerned with flat taxes above all. It should seem strange for us to say that Psg A was written in order to list complaints about progressive tax codes.

(E) Only Psg A deals with tax avoidance.

The correct answer is (C).

[jasonleb1]

The line reference you cited (lines 21-26) are about flat taxes, not progressive taxes. In those lines, the author is saying how you can achieve a 'progressive effect' in a flat tax system by deciding where you place the exemption amount.

It is? That high earners have incentives and means to avoid taxes under "progressive" systems - which is clearly a problem - is said to be the case in most developed nations. But we know from the beginning of the passage that only a few countries in the world use a flat tax. Wouldn't that mean that most countries use a progressive system?

[ohthatpatrick]

You're right, my mistake. Thanks for catching that. I was looking at the first couple sentences (reading UP TO line 21 instead of starting there).

I'm going to edit my original post so that it doesn't say something dumb.

You said:
"high earners have incentives and means to avoid taxes under "progressive" systems - which is clearly a problem"

Is it? Why is it a problem? Is someone presenting that as a reason you shouldn't have a progressive tax system?

In context, it's presented as a way of showing how you might get the same results from the flat tax that you do from the much more complicated progressive tax.

Could we really feel good about saying Psg A was written in order to answer the question "What are some objections to progressive tax codes?" Doesn't Psg A feel way more centered on flat taxes? It seems more likely that Psg A was concerned with answering a question about flat taxes.

[laura.bach]

I thought (B) may be correct because both passages discuss how progressive taxes affect different groups of taxpayers.

Passage A acknowledges that progressive systems "[require] high-income earners to forfeit a bigger share of their incomes in tax than low-income earners have to pay." (Lines 13 - 15).

Passage B reads "graduated progressive taxes treat all taxpayers equally... people, not dollars, are treated equally" (Lines 33 - 39).

Although I agree that (C) comes closest to the pre-phrase of what the two passages are about, it seems like more of a leap than (B) does, given that passage B doesn't mention flat taxes being fair or not.

Could someone help me rule out (B)?

Thank you!

[priya.asokan89]

I thought (B) may be correct because both passages discuss how progressive taxes affect different groups of taxpayers.

Passage A acknowledges that progressive systems "[require] high-income earners to forfeit a bigger share of their incomes in tax than low-income earners have to pay." (Lines 13 - 15).

Passage B reads "graduated progressive taxes treat all taxpayers equally... people, not dollars, are treated equally" (Lines 33 - 39).

Although I agree that (C) comes closest to the pre-phrase of what the two passages are about, it seems like more of a leap than (B) does, given that passage B doesn't mention flat taxes being fair or not.

Could someone help me rule out (B)?

Thank you!

I have the same questions regarding answer choice B. I thought it was supported by lines 12-15 of Passage A-- Is that not correct?

Thanks.

[ohthatpatrick]

I think it would be fair to say that both passages provide an answer to the question posed in (B).

In lines 12-15, it sounds like psg A would say "no, it doesn't treat them equally. rich people forfeit a bigger share of their income" and lines 33-34 obviously explicitly say "graduated progressive taxes DO treat all taxpayers equally".

But shouldn't we interpret a question stem that says "Both passages (authors) are concerned with answering which question" with more of a mind to the author's overall purpose?

It doesn't seem like either author's objective in writing her essay was to answer whether progressive taxes treat all taxpayers equally.

Both authors seemed more concerned with evaluating a flat tax.

Both authors introduce a possible objection early on that flat taxes are unfair:
line 11 and line 33.

And both authors go on to rebut these objections for the rest of their respective passages.