Author A argues that public arts subsidies are only justifiable if they serve the public interest, but she doesn’t say anything about whether people would be willing to pay the taxes. This is enough reason to eliminate (A). Author B doesn’t express any opinion about taxpayers’ willingness to pay for public arts subsidies either.

Author A explicitly states that the range of arts organizations reached and the resulting diversity of audiences are not enough to justify public funding for the arts. Author B agrees with her; he thinks that there is no justification for public arts funding at all. We need an answer choice that the authors would disagree on.

Author A argues that people without means will miss out on cultural events if they aren’t publicly funded, but she doesn’t say anything about how most people with means are likely to spend their discretionary income. This is enough reason to eliminate (C). Author B says that people can buy their own aesthetic experiences, but he doesn’t express any opinion about how most people are likely to spend their discretionary income either.

The authors would likely disagree over this. Author A implicitly agrees with (D). She thinks that publicly funded arts events build social capital by giving people opportunities to get together. This suggests that she believes that many people would actually take advantage of these cultural opportunities. Author B implicitly disagrees with (D). He thinks that the subsidies would not “enable many more people to enjoy works of art,” since subsidized art reflects the tastes of selection committees rather than audiences, leaving most people with art that they don’t like. This suggests that he believes that more people would not take advantage of subsidized cultural opportunities.

Author A never compares the aesthetic qualities of publicly funded and privately funded art; we have no reason to believe she’d have an opinion on this. This is enough reason to eliminate (E). Author B never expresses an opinion about whether publicly or privately funded art is better either. He just says that public funding for the arts isn’t justifiable, even if it does guarantee better art.