Self-study
In order to reduce traffic congestion and raise revenue for the city, the mayor plans to implement a charge of $10 per day for driving in the downtown area. ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ █ ██████ █████████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████████ ██████████ █████████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ █████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████████
Summary
The author concludes that a new traffic tax will not be effectively enforced when it is first implemented. This is because the tax requires a complex system in order to be enforced, and this system will not be ready until the end of next year.
Notable Assumptions
We’re given a necessary condition for the tax being enforced—a complex new system. We’re then told that the system won’t be ready until the end of next year. We can validly conclude that the tax wouldn’t be effectively enforced until the end of next year, but we have no clue when the tax will actually be implemented. If it is implemented after the new system, then there is no reason to conclude it won’t be effectively enforced. As such, in order for the tax not to be effectively enforced when it is first implemented, the author must assume it will be implemented before the end of next year.
10.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████
a
The mayor's plan ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████
We know the tax can’t be effectively enforced before the end of next year, but we don’t know when the mayor plans to enact the tax. (A) tells us the mayor plans to enact it before the required system is in place, so we know it will initially not be well-enforced.
b
The city will █████ █ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ █████████
The argument is unconcerned with the city’s overall financials or whether or not it will incur a deficit. We are only interested in the enforcement of this one specific tax, so (B) is not necessary.
c
The plan to ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███████████ █████████
Eliminating (C) relies on understanding the distinction between is and ought. Just because it should be implemented as soon as it can be enforced gives no indication of when it will actually be implemented.
d
Raising revenue is █ ████ █████████ █████████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ███████████
The city’s rationale behind the new tax is purely contextual and irrelevant to the argument. Regardless of what the city cares about more, it is still entirely possible that the tax is implemented before the system is in place, and thus initially poorly enforced.
e
A daily charge ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████ ███████████
Whether or not this tax succeeds in reducing congestion is irrelevant to the argument, and it certainly doesn’t have to be the best way to do it. Other more effective methods could exist, with no impact on whether or not this tax will initially be well-enforced.