PrepTest 117, Section 3, Question 13
City council member: Despite the city's desperate need(102 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AImposing real estate(16 more words not shown)
- BThe city would(12 more words not shown)
- CIn blocking council(18 more words not shown)
- DSignificantly reducing the(15 more words not shown)
- EThe mayor's family(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What if the mayor has a good reason to block the fees?
The city needs money, and development fees look like a way to get it. But charging a fee can change what people do. If the charge discourages enough construction, the city might lose revenue it would otherwise receive from the resulting development. We'd want to compare the gain from the fees with the loss caused by fewer building projects.
That is exactly the concern the mayor raises. The council member responds by pointing to the mayor's family, which stands to benefit financially from keeping development costs down. That gives us a reason to examine the mayor's position carefully. It doesn't answer the numbers.
The family could benefit and the mayor could be right about the city's revenue. Think of an LSAT instructor who says studying seriously matters. The instructor has a financial interest in people buying preparation, but that doesn't automatically make the advice false. A personal stake and a sound point can coexist.
What we’re looking for
Now we're asked for the council member's main conclusion. What claim have we been questioning? The accusation that the mayor is sacrificing the city's interests to personal interests. The city's need supplies background, and the family's stake supplies the stated support for that accusation. We can identify the point without accepting it.
Working the answers
- A
The council member doesn't compare development fees with every other way to raise revenue. Calling them the best available option goes beyond the argument. The stated point concerns why the mayor is blocking this option, not whether it ranks first among all options.
- B
The council member treats the fees as a way to help the city's finances. That idea contributes to the accusation: blocking a beneficial policy would harm the city. But the accusation goes further and says the mayor is choosing personal interests over the city's interests. B leaves out that main claim.
- CCorrect
This restates the accusation we challenged: by blocking the fees, the mayor sacrifices the city's interests to personal interests. The council member cites the family's involvement in development to support it. Identifying that support helps us distinguish the conclusion from the facts offered as reasons to believe it.
- D
This would challenge the mayor's financial claim, but the council member doesn't actually demonstrate that fewer building starts would avoid a net revenue loss. The response focuses instead on the mayor's family. We need the stated main conclusion, not a financial rebuttal the council member might have offered.
- E
The family's financial interest is the evidence used to support the accusation. The council member wants us to move from that stake to the claim that the mayor sacrifices the city's interests. E stops at the supporting fact rather than giving the conclusion drawn from it.
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