Self-study
Principle: A government should reduce taxes on imports if doing so would financially benefit many consumers in its domestic economy. █████ ██ █ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████ ██ █████████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████
███████████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ████████
Summary
The author concludes that the government should not reduce taxes on textile imports. This is based on the following rule:
If one or more of a government’s domestic industries would be significantly harmed by the added competition resulting from reduced import taxes, then a government should not reduce import taxes for that industry.
Missing Connection
We have a rule that allows us to conclude the government shouldn’t reduce import taxes for textiles. To trigger this rule, we want to know that reduced import taxes for the textile industry would significantly harm the domestic textile industry.
14.
Which one of the following ██ █ █████████ ████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ ████████ █████ █████ ███ ██████████
a
Reducing taxes on ███████ ███████ █████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████
(A) doesn’t establish that reducing import taxes for textiles would significantly harm the domestic textile industry. Failing to benefit consumers does not constitute significant harm to the domestic textile industry.
b
Reducing taxes on ███████ ███████ █████ ███████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████
(B) doesn’t establish that reducing import taxes for textiles would significantly harm the domestic textile industry. Failing to benefit the domestic textile industry does imply significant harm to the domestic textile industry. (Not helping does not imply hurting.)
c
The domestic textile ████████ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████
(C) doesn’t establish that reducing import taxes for textiles would significantly harm the domestic textile industry. The fact there’s “significant competition” does not guarantee significant harm. It’s possible, for example, that the domestic industry can withstand and beat out the competition.
d
The domestic textile ████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ████ █████ █████████
The comparative level of benefit from tax reductions compared to other measures does not establish that reducing import taxes would significantly harm the domestic textile industry.
e
The added competition ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████
(E) establishes that reducing import taxes would significantly harm the domestic textile industry. Thus, according to the rule, the government should not reduce import taxes for textiles.