A. Money collected from property taxes provided most of Altonville's revenue during the past four years.
Incorrect : It is not mentioned in the argument above.

B. The percentage of Altonville's overall revenue that was collected from property taxes did not change over the past four years.
Incorrect : Amount of total revenue is not mentioned hence we cannot conclude above the percentage of overall revenue.

C. Altonville officials had proposed raising property tax rates during the past four years but never did so because of strong opposition from property owners.
Incorrect : This is additional info. Eliminated.

D. The total amount of revenue that Altonville has collected from property taxes has declined over the past four years.
Correct : the assessed value of that real estate-has also declined but the percentage of assessed value that was paid as property taxes to the city did not change. Hence we can conclude that total amount of revenue collected from properties has declined over the past 4 yrs.

E. During the past four years, Altonville officials also did not increase tax rates on other sources of revenue such as retail sales or business profits.
Incorrect : Other sources such as retail or business profits is clearly irrelevant to the scope of the argument. [/quote]

I'd like to try to explain why answer choice B is incorrect. This will be an exercise to help me with communicating my reasoning.

Answer B can either strengthen or weaken the answer.

Case 1: Weaken
Assessed Value is the same
Total Revenue is the same
Ass. Val/Tot. Rev = same

Example

Year 1996 2000
Ass. Val. 1,000,000 1,000,000
Tot. Rev. 5,000,000 5,000,000

The percentage of revenue from the assessed value is the same for both 1996 and 2000: 20%. This satisfied the requirement for the statement in B. However, it weakens the conclusion because the assessed value did not change.


Case 2: Strengthen
Assessed Value decreased
Total Revenue decreased
Ass. Val/Tot. Rev = same

Example

Year 1996 2000
Ass. Val. 1,000,000 800,000
Tot. Rev. 5,000,000 4,000,000

The percentage of revenue from the assessed value is the same for both 1996 and 2000: 20%. This satisfied the requirement for the statement in B. However, it stengthens the conclusion because the assessed value did in fact decrease.

Any expert advice would be greatly appreciated.

Am I overthinking this issue?

mgmt_gmat wrote:The total market value of real estate in Altonville has steadily declined over the past four years. This decline has meant that the overall figure on which the city's property tax is
based-the assessed value of that real estate-has also declined. Moreover, the
percentage of assessed value that was paid as property taxes to the city did not change
during this period.

Market Value(MV) = Amount of money the property buyers are willing to offer.

Assessed Value(AV) = Value placed on a property for the purpose of Tax

In principal Market Value < Assessed value , generally Assessed Value is always a percentage of the property.


Now Proceed with the Problem...

Let the MV be $ 100

AV is 20% over MV => $120


P : The total market value of real estate in Altonville has steadily declined over the past four years.

We can view it as -

$100 -----> $90-----> $80-----> $70

P2 : This decline has meant that the overall figure on which the city's property tax is based-the assessed value of that real estate-has also declined.

$120 -----> $108 -----> $96 -----> $84

P3 : Moreover, the percentage of assessed value that was paid as property taxes to the city did not change during this period.

We have taken this into consideration while calculating the Asset Value as seen earlier as 20% over Market Value.

The information above most strongly supports which of the following?

Since most of answer choices consists of the term " Revenue" lets dive further into the depth of calculation of Revenue from Property Tax.

Say Property Tax rate fixed by Altonville be 30% of the assessed Value of the property.

So Revenue collected is 130% of Assessed Value.

Revenue generated during the 4 years is as follows -

$156-----> $140.40 -----> $124.80 -----> $109.20


A. Money collected from property taxes provided most of Altonville's revenue during the past four years.

Out of scope , we do not have sufficient information to comment on the underlined part.

B. The percentage of Altonville's overall revenue that was collected from property taxes did not change over the past four years.

Percentage of Revenue collected from Property Tax = ( Property Tax / Total Revenue )*100 %

Since we don't have sufficient information about the total revenue , we can't comment.

C. Altonville officials had proposed raising property tax rates during the past four years but never did so because of strong opposition from property owners.

Out of Scope undoubtedly , we don't have enough information about the same..

D. The total amount of revenue that Altonville has collected from property taxes has declined over the past four years.

True , amount of revenue collected from Property tax kept on Decreasing...

E. During the past four years, Altonville officials also did not increase tax rates on other sources of revenue such as retail sales or business profits.

We don't have information about other sources mentioned , hence this option is out of scope...


IMO (D)

Plz provide the OA..