Critical Reasoning

imskpwr wrote:State tax officials, having had considerable success in persuading delinquent individuals to pay their back taxes through the incentive of reduced penalties, plan to adopt a similar approach in order to collect past due taxes from corporations.

The state tax plan outlined above assumes that

federal tax officials will not attempt to collect back taxes in the same manner

stiff fines are not the only way to collect past due corporate taxes

corporations tend to be delinquent in their taxes for the same length of time that individual taxpayers are

past due taxes cannot be collected without a reduction in penalties

penalties for delinquent corporations will have to be reduced by the same percentage as were penalties for delinquent individuals

Please post with explanation.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:State tax officials, having had considerable success in persuading delinquent individuals to pay their back taxes through the incentive of reduced penalties, plan to adopt a similar approach in order to collect past due taxes from corporations.

The state tax plan outlined above assumes that

federal tax officials will not attempt to collect back taxes in the same manner

stiff fines are not the only way to collect past due corporate taxes

corporations tend to be delinquent in their taxes for the same length of time that individual taxpayers are

past due taxes cannot be collected without a reduction in penalties

penalties for delinquent corporations will have to be reduced by the same percentage as were penalties for delinquent individuals

Please post with explanation.

Apply the NEGATION test.
Answer choice B, negated:
Stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes.
If stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes, then the plan to REDUCE the fines WILL NOT WORK.
Since the negation of B trashes the plan, B is the necessary assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the plan to work.

The correct answer is B.

ranjeet75 wrote: If we negate D, we get:

"past due taxes can be collected without a reduction in penalties" and again the plan fails. So, why D should not be the answer.

GMATGuruNY wrote:
That taxes CAN be collected without a reduction in penalties does mean that they CAN'T be collected IN OTHER WAYS.
Thus, when D is negated, it still entirely possible that THE OTHER WAY proposed by the state officials -- the incentive of reduced penalties -- will persuade delinquent corporations to pay their back taxes.
Since the negation of D does not invalidate the conclusion, D is NOT the necessary assumption.

avik.ch wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:
That taxes CAN be collected without a reduction in penalties does mean that they CAN'T be collected IN OTHER WAYS.
Thus, when D is negated, it still entirely possible that THE OTHER WAY proposed by the state officials -- the incentive of reduced penalties -- will persuade delinquent corporations to pay their back taxes.
Since the negation of D does not invalidate the conclusion, D is NOT the necessary assumption.

good one.........what you said is correct to distinguish between a Necessary and Sufficient Assumption.......

Thanks!


I think D is a sufficient assumption.

but from the question stem we are not sure what we are looking for : i think its better if it was written as - the argument depends on which of the following assumption

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:State tax officials, having had considerable success in persuading delinquent individuals to pay their back taxes through the incentive of reduced penalties, plan to adopt a similar approach in order to collect past due taxes from corporations.

The state tax plan outlined above assumes that

federal tax officials will not attempt to collect back taxes in the same manner

stiff fines are not the only way to collect past due corporate taxes

corporations tend to be delinquent in their taxes for the same length of time that individual taxpayers are

past due taxes cannot be collected without a reduction in penalties

penalties for delinquent corporations will have to be reduced by the same percentage as were penalties for delinquent individuals

Please post with explanation.

Apply the NEGATION test.
Answer choice B, negated:
Stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes.
If stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes, then the plan to REDUCE the fines WILL NOT WORK.
Since the negation of B trashes the plan, B is the necessary assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the plan to work.

The correct answer is B.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:State tax officials, having had considerable success in persuading delinquent individuals to pay their back taxes through the incentive of reduced penalties, plan to adopt a similar approach in order to collect past due taxes from corporations.

The state tax plan outlined above assumes that

federal tax officials will not attempt to collect back taxes in the same manner

stiff fines are not the only way to collect past due corporate taxes

corporations tend to be delinquent in their taxes for the same length of time that individual taxpayers are

past due taxes cannot be collected without a reduction in penalties

penalties for delinquent corporations will have to be reduced by the same percentage as were penalties for delinquent individuals

Please post with explanation.

Apply the NEGATION test.
Answer choice B, negated:
Stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes.
If stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes, then the plan to REDUCE the fines WILL NOT WORK.
Since the negation of B trashes the plan, B is the necessary assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the plan to work.

The correct answer is B.

duongthang wrote:

GMATGuruNY wrote:

imskpwr wrote:State tax officials, having had considerable success in persuading delinquent individuals to pay their back taxes through the incentive of reduced penalties, plan to adopt a similar approach in order to collect past due taxes from corporations.

The state tax plan outlined above assumes that

federal tax officials will not attempt to collect back taxes in the same manner

stiff fines are not the only way to collect past due corporate taxes

corporations tend to be delinquent in their taxes for the same length of time that individual taxpayers are

past due taxes cannot be collected without a reduction in penalties

penalties for delinquent corporations will have to be reduced by the same percentage as were penalties for delinquent individuals

Please post with explanation.

Apply the NEGATION test.
Answer choice B, negated:
Stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes.
If stiff fines are THE ONLY WAY to collect past due corporate taxes, then the plan to REDUCE the fines WILL NOT WORK.
Since the negation of B trashes the plan, B is the necessary assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the plan to work.

The correct answer is B.

Thank you for the posting.
Normally, I see you prethink an assumption before going to answer choices. Why in this question you do not show the prethinking step.
I do prethinking and find an assumption which is that corporation and individual are similar. Then I go to answer choices but I see no match with the prethinking. in this situation, I apply negation test and realize B.

do you thing that the above steps in my thinking is standard and can applied to many CR questions ? pls advise.