Critical Reasoning

Advocate: Millions of plastic shopping bags are discarded every day in the United States. Plastic bags present a problem for the environment because they do not readily decompose, but will remain intact for thousands of years. Policy makers agree that the best solution to the problem is to convince people to bring their own shopping bags so that they do not need disposable plastic bags. Therefore, the U.S. government should implement a tax on disposable plastic bags because this will have the desired effect of dramatically decreasing the number of plastic bags discarded each day in the United States.

Which of the following provides the strongest reason to believe that the plan to levy a tax on disposable plastic bags will be successful in greatly reducing the number of plastic bags being discarded?

(A) A similar tax in several European countries resulted in a 90% decrease in the number of plastic bags used by consumers each year.

(B) Current incentives, such as crediting customers 5 or 10 cents for each reusable bag, have resulted in only a small decrease in the number of plastic bags discarded.

(C) Some customers are very concerned about the environmental impacts of plastic bags and will bring reusable bags without any financial incentive.

(D) The bill has substantial support with the Congressional delegations of many states and with the current administration.

(E) The bill could be implemented and the tax collected using a very simple addition to the programming of electronic cash registers.

OA A

Source: Veritas Prep