Political Commentator Tax Cut Debate

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Political Commentator Tax Cut Debate

by YellowSapphire » Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:27 pm
Political Commentator: During the previous presidential administration, members of congress approved large tax cuts and yet the economy today stands in shambles. During the current economic crisis, those who espouse large tax cuts as an economic stimulus should consider the failure of tax cuts during the past eight years to prevent the current economic recession as conclusive evidence that tax cuts will not help the country escape from its current economic troubles.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

A) The large tax cuts of the past administration targeted the capital gains on the financial investments of the ultra-rich while proponents of tax cuts today suggest cutting payroll taxes for both employers and employees.
B) Economists from across the spectrum now agree that tax cuts helped stem the country's most severe recession in history, which occurred about 70 years ago prior to industrialization in this country.
C) Economists from across the spectrum predict that if Congress fails to pass the tax-cut legislation, which also includes government spending and much more, it could well be 15 years before the economy escapes the current recession.
D) Economists from across the spectrum agree that these tax cuts will add less to the fiscal deficit than the tax cuts of the previous administration.
E) During the most recent political campaign cycle, which featured many deceptive political attacks, the governor of a prosperous state attacked those who opposed tax cuts by citing his own state's ostensible prosperity.

OA: A

the failure of the past administration's tax cuts to prevent the economic recession => Reason
tax cuts will not help the country escape from its current economic troubles => Conclusion

tax cut => means common people have to pay less tax. Is it right?

Can someone explain it? I don't understand what this is the answer.
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by outreach » Sun Aug 01, 2010 1:53 am
tax cuts employed by the previous regime to the one by current regime are different. hence same consequence cannot be assumed
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by reply2spg » Sun Aug 01, 2010 9:42 am
While weakening or strengthening questions, some times it is good to avoid opinions or agreements of expert. However, we should at least read those options.

In this Q, B, C and D are just opinions or agreements of economists. These opinions or agreements are not concrete evidences to weaken or strengthen any argument.

Here A is the best option.
YellowSapphire wrote:Political Commentator: During the previous presidential administration, members of congress approved large tax cuts and yet the economy today stands in shambles. During the current economic crisis, those who espouse large tax cuts as an economic stimulus should consider the failure of tax cuts during the past eight years to prevent the current economic recession as conclusive evidence that tax cuts will not help the country escape from its current economic troubles.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

A) The large tax cuts of the past administration targeted the capital gains on the financial investments of the ultra-rich while proponents of tax cuts today suggest cutting payroll taxes for both employers and employees.
B) Economists from across the spectrum now agree that tax cuts helped stem the country's most severe recession in history, which occurred about 70 years ago prior to industrialization in this country.
C) Economists from across the spectrum predict that if Congress fails to pass the tax-cut legislation, which also includes government spending and much more, it could well be 15 years before the economy escapes the current recession.
D) Economists from across the spectrum agree that these tax cuts will add less to the fiscal deficit than the tax cuts of the previous administration.
E) During the most recent political campaign cycle, which featured many deceptive political attacks, the governor of a prosperous state attacked those who opposed tax cuts by citing his own state's ostensible prosperity.

OA: A

the failure of the past administration's tax cuts to prevent the economic recession => Reason
tax cuts will not help the country escape from its current economic troubles => Conclusion

tax cut => means common people have to pay less tax. Is it right?

Can someone explain it? I don't understand what this is the answer.
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Aug 05, 2010 9:30 am
Received a PM asking me to respond.

YellowSapphire, please make sure to cite the source in your original post itself, not just in your PM to me. :) Source, according to YellowSapphire, is a company called Platinum GMAT. (Note: the website is not the source - that's the location. The source is the name of the company or person who made the material.)

Question: weaken

Arg:
(p) last PA, C made lrg tax cuts, still bad econ
(c) now, people who think lrg tax cuts --> better econ: (p) above proves that tax cuts won't fix econ

What I'm thinking: Really? It didn't work before, so it absolutely can't work now? That's extreme. Different circumstances could make the same tactic more likely to work in a different situation. Answer should probably address something like that.

1st pass: decide between "definitely no" and "maybe."
A) different tax cuts proposed. Not thrilled with this b/c it doesn't say that the new tax cuts are any more likely to make a difference, but I'm not going to eliminate yet.
B) tax cuts helped the economy a long time ago. Well, that means they worked at least once. Maybe.
C) okay, so that doesn't necessarily mean the tax cuts are necessary - it could be about the government spending or the "much more." Eliminate.
D) deficit not at issue. Eliminate.
E) governor not an issue. Eliminate.

Between A and B:
Both make it a little less likely that the conclusion is valid. A requires this assumption: it's better for the economy to cut payroll taxes than it is to cut capital gains. B requires this assumption: what applied in the past could also apply today.

The author is already assuming that what applied 8 years ago also applies today (because his supporting evidence is also from the past). We don't actually have to make that assumption ourselves, then - it already exists in the argument. So I'd pick B.

I just looked at the OA and it's A. I would argue with that. I would also like to know what justification was used by the problem's authors for eliminating A. If it is because of the "doesn't necessarily apply today" thing, then that doesn't fly because the basic argument also requires that to be true. If it has something to do with the "prior to industrialization" thing, that's no worse (or better) than switching to a different kind of tax cut, because we have no information about how either of those things would play out in this situation. To get to A from that, you have to assume payroll taxes are better and you have to assume "pre-industrialization" makes the data invalid. So A and B would be equally good at that point.

I don't fully like B either, but it requires less of a stretch than A because of the assumption that already exists in the given argument.
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by YellowSapphire » Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:07 am
Thanks Stacey. Actually, I could not understand the tax cut system in option A. Can you please explain what does A convey.
Stacey Koprince wrote: YellowSapphire, please make sure to cite the source in your original post itself, not just in your PM to me. :) Source, according to YellowSapphire, is a company called Platinum GMAT. (Note: the website is not the source - that's the location. The source is the name of the company or person who made the material.)
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A: This answer identifies that the argument illogically compares apples and oranges (i.e., it compares entirely different types of tax cuts). It is not reasonable to assume that capital gains tax cuts for the ultra-rich will have the same effect as cuts on salary taxes.
B: This answer does not weaken the political commentator's argument since the tax cuts referred to occurred under such radically different circumstances. Further, this answer simply states that tax cuts "helped stem" a recession while the commentator states that tax cuts will "help the country escape" from a recession. Simply helping stem (or slow down) a recession is considerably different (and less impressive) than actually turning around an entire economy in recession.
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:23 am
It is not reasonable to assume that capital gains tax cuts for the ultra-rich will have the same effect as cuts on salary taxes.
It is not reasonable to assume that test takers know anything about the differences between capital gains taxes and salary taxes. The real test would never assume that you already possess this knowledge. If this is the reasoning used to support A as the correct answer... then this is a bad question.
occurred under such radically different circumstances
Again, this presupposes knowledge that the real test would never assume you to have.

I agree, though, that the "helped stem" vs. "help the country escape" is a significant difference in scope.

Not happy with this one in general and wouldn't study it.
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