Cigarettes and tax--Hard one!! Strenthen

[amysky_0205]

In the year following an eight-cent increase in the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes, sales of cigarettes fell ten percent. In contrast, in the year prior to the tax increase, sales had fallen one percent. The volume of cigarette sales is therefore strongly related to the after-tax price of a pack of cigarettes.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?

A. During the second year after the tax increase, cigarette sales increased by a significant amount.
B. The information available to consumers on the health risks of smoking remained largely unchanged in the period before and after the tax increase.
C. Most consumers were unaware that the tax on cigarettes was going to increase.
D. During the year following the cigarette tax increase, many consumers had less income, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than they had had in the previous year.
E. During the year after the tax increase, there was a greater variety of cigarettes on the market than there had been during the previous year.

OA: B

can someone explain this one?
I still don't get it why the health risks before and after tax didn't change will support this one.

thank u!!!

[GMATGuruNY]

In the year following an eight-cent increase in the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes, sales of cigarettes fell ten percent. In contrast, in the year prior to the tax increase, sales had fallen one percent. The volume of cigarette sales is therefore strongly related to the after-tax price of a pack of cigarettes.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?

A. During the second year after the tax increase, cigarette sales increased by a significant amount.
B. The information available to consumers on the health risks of smoking remained largely unchanged in the period before and after the tax increase.
C. Most consumers were unaware that the tax on cigarettes was going to increase.
D. During the year following the cigarette tax increase, many consumers had less income, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than they had had in the previous year.
E. During the year after the tax increase, there was a greater variety of cigarettes on the market than there had been during the previous year.

OA: B

This is a CAUSAL argument.
The passage concludes that the tax increase CAUSED the decrease in cigarette sales.
One way to strengthen a causal argument is to RULE OUT AN ALTERNATE CAUSE.

B: The information available to consumers on the health risks of smoking remained largely unchanged in the period before and after the tax increase.
This answer choice RULES OUT the possibility that new information about the health risks caused the decrease in cigarette sales, STRENGTHENING the conclusion that the TAX INCREASE caused the decrease in sales.

The correct answer is B.

[tanviet]

I want to discuss og question but this one is not og question.
B show 2 possibilities
1. the information about health risk is exposed more to persons. B strengthen
2. the information about health risk is exposed less to persons. B dose not strengthen.

B is correct sometimes and incorrect other times. B is not oa.

in og questions, the wrongness of B is used many times to trap us. I can not expose the relevant questions.

I think we should focus on og question and the process of prethinking, the process we do after reading the argument and before we go to answer choices.

is my thinking correct?