I understand where the support for anwer choice d is coming from in passage b, but passage a does not seem to address this at all. it mentions low income and high income, but dos not much middle, so how do we know it would disagree?
Furthermore, I am having difficulty ruling out some other answer choices, notably A. B would definitely agree with this, but again, where is this references in passage a? Why is this choice not as good as D.
Please Help!
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Re: Question 24
Great question!
To figure out which piece of information would support Passage B's position over Passage A's, we should first identify what each passage takes as its primary "position".
Passage A argues that a flat tax can be practically implemented, and it can be fair/progressive (or at least, as fair/progressive as a graduated tax is currently). Passage B, in contrast, raises the very fairness objection Passage A intends to quell - that a graduated tax is the more 'fair' option, since the survival dollars are fundamentally different from discretionary dollars.
So, what could support B over A here? Well, anything that showed the flat tax to be less fair/progressive than the current graduated tax would support A, and weaken B!
In (D), if middle-income taxpayers pay more under the flat tax, and Passage A told us that high-income taxpayers pay about the same amount, that means that the burden has shifted more heavily onto the middle-come taxpayers - and that's less progressive than the current situation with a graduated tax!
As you note, that this answer would support Author's B's position is far more directly shown at the very end of Passage B. Since we have a scenario that would show the flat tax to be less progressive than the graduated tax, the answer supports B *over* A.
Let's take a look at the incorrect answer choices, now that we have a strong sense of the positions of the two passages.
(A) - This issue would be relevant if the two authors fundamentally disagreed on whether the flat tax would bring in the same revenue - their disagreement is over HOW it will end up bringing in that revenue. Neither side argues that the flat tax wouldn't bring in revenue.
(B) - Author A mentions the complexity of the current tax code, and so probably believes that a flat tax would reduce complexity, so this would probably support Author A. Additionally, Author B never weighs in on whether the flat tax would be simpler.
(C) - Neither author mentions how taxpayers ultimately feel about the taxes, or whether they *believe* they are overtaxed - they only discuss where the money will actually flow from.
(E) - Neither author discusses whether or not legislators are in favor of a flat tax or not, so this wouldn't support either author over the other one.
Remember, if you have to support one passage's position, it's critical to take a moment and identify what the essential position of each passage is before you go trying to support it! Since Author A is trying to make a point about the potential for fairness in a flat tax, anything impacting that fairness argument is fair game, even though he did not specifically mention anything about middle-income taxpayers in particular.
Please let me know if this completely clears up your question!
To figure out which piece of information would support Passage B's position over Passage A's, we should first identify what each passage takes as its primary "position".
Passage A argues that a flat tax can be practically implemented, and it can be fair/progressive (or at least, as fair/progressive as a graduated tax is currently). Passage B, in contrast, raises the very fairness objection Passage A intends to quell - that a graduated tax is the more 'fair' option, since the survival dollars are fundamentally different from discretionary dollars.
So, what could support B over A here? Well, anything that showed the flat tax to be less fair/progressive than the current graduated tax would support A, and weaken B!
In (D), if middle-income taxpayers pay more under the flat tax, and Passage A told us that high-income taxpayers pay about the same amount, that means that the burden has shifted more heavily onto the middle-come taxpayers - and that's less progressive than the current situation with a graduated tax!
As you note, that this answer would support Author's B's position is far more directly shown at the very end of Passage B. Since we have a scenario that would show the flat tax to be less progressive than the graduated tax, the answer supports B *over* A.
Let's take a look at the incorrect answer choices, now that we have a strong sense of the positions of the two passages.
(A) - This issue would be relevant if the two authors fundamentally disagreed on whether the flat tax would bring in the same revenue - their disagreement is over HOW it will end up bringing in that revenue. Neither side argues that the flat tax wouldn't bring in revenue.
(B) - Author A mentions the complexity of the current tax code, and so probably believes that a flat tax would reduce complexity, so this would probably support Author A. Additionally, Author B never weighs in on whether the flat tax would be simpler.
(C) - Neither author mentions how taxpayers ultimately feel about the taxes, or whether they *believe* they are overtaxed - they only discuss where the money will actually flow from.
(E) - Neither author discusses whether or not legislators are in favor of a flat tax or not, so this wouldn't support either author over the other one.
Remember, if you have to support one passage's position, it's critical to take a moment and identify what the essential position of each passage is before you go trying to support it! Since Author A is trying to make a point about the potential for fairness in a flat tax, anything impacting that fairness argument is fair game, even though he did not specifically mention anything about middle-income taxpayers in particular.
Please let me know if this completely clears up your question!
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