Critical Reasoning

Current farm policy is institutionalized penalization of consumers. It increases food prices for middle- and low-income families and costs the taxpayer billions of dollars a year.

Which of the following statements, if true, would provide support for the author's claims above?
I. Farm subsidies amount to roughly $20 billion a year in federal payouts and $12 billion more in higher food prices.
II. According to a study by the Department of Agriculture, each $1 of benefits provided to farmers for ethanol production costs consumers and taxpayers $4.
III. The average full-time farmers have an average net worth of over $300,000.

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I, II, and III

I'd say the answer is D here. This is because both the first and the second statement refer to food costs (1st one) and taxation (1st and 2nd).

I am OK with the 2nd stmt. Can someone please through some light on first statement?

IMO II Only

IMO D.

@hesha..

Y did u chose B??

Well, subsidies come from taxes - it's just another way of saying that the taxpayer is paying for the extra money that the farmers get from the government. Higher food prices usually affect people with low and medium income, since food is a basic good and needs to be covered all the time.

IMO - D