Self-study
Politician: Support All nations that place a high tax on income produce thereby a negative incentive for technological innovation, and Support all nations in which technological innovation is hampered inevitably fall behind in the international arms race. █████ ███████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ █ █████████████ ███████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ███████
Summarize Argument
The politician concludes that nations should tax income only at rates lower than 30 percent in order to maintain their value system and way of life. For support, he cites a general rule: a high income tax produces a negative incentive for innovation, which causes a country to fall behind in the arms race. This causes those nations to lose international power, a circumstance threatening their values and way of life.
Notable Assumptions
The politician makes many assumptions. He assumes an income tax bracket exceeding 30 percent is high enough to produce a negative incentive for innovation, that such an incentive always hampers innovation, that falling behind in the arms race means suffering a “strategically disadvantageous position,” and that a nation that loses power internationally is at risk of compromising its way of life and values.
17.
Each of the following, if █████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ████████ ███████
a
The top level ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████████ ████ ███████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███████████
This disputes the assumption that any income tax bracket exceeding 30 percent is high enough to create a negative incentive for technological innovation.
b
Making a great ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ███████████
This calls into question the general rule, critical to the politician’s argument, that a high income tax produces a negative incentive for innovation.
c
Falling behind in ███ █████████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ █ █████████████ ████ ████████████ █████████
This refutes the assumption that nations who lag in the arms race must be strategically disadvantaged, and thus breaks a link in the politician’s chain of reasoning.
d
Those nations that ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ████ █ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ █████
This disputes the assumption that nations that lose international power risk compromising their values or way of life, breaking a link in the politician’s chain of reasoning.
e
Allowing one's country ██ ████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ █ ██████████ █████████
This is consistent with the politician’s statements because he says that falling behind in the arms race will cause a country to lose its international power, even if it’s due to foolishness.