PrepTest 147, Section 3, Question 25
Passage A In 1994, Estonia became the first(490 more words not shown)
Passage A(253 more words not shown)
Passage B(245 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(15 more words not shown)
- Athat exempting a(9 more words not shown)
- Bthat flat tax(8 more words not shown)
- Cthat higher taxes(8 more words not shown)
- Dthat a flat(11 more words not shown)
- Ethat a progressive(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
Separate the authors’ positions from the topics they address. B can address a claim by rejecting it. We need a conclusion A supports that B leaves alone.
What we’re looking for
The threshold and fairness arguments appear in both. Tax avoidance is different: A uses it to explain high earners’ actual payments, while B focuses on equal treatment, financial needs, and who supplies the revenue.
Working the answers
- A
A uses the exempt threshold to answer the fairness objection, but B expressly considers that exemption and questions the jump from zero to the top rate. Disagreement is not silence.
- B
A argues that flat taxes are working in practice. This reverses its position.
- C
Neither argument develops a claim about high-income tax rates inhibiting investment or economic growth. That may sound familiar from tax debates, but it is not a conclusion A argues for here.
- DCorrect
A connects complex codes with large opportunities and incentives for high earners to avoid taxes, and contrasts that situation with flat regimes. B never addresses this avoidance argument. It satisfies both requirements: supported by A and unaddressed by B.
- E
B directly addresses whether graduated taxes are unfair to those who pay more, explaining that equivalent income layers face equal rates. A also does not argue for the unfairness claim as stated.
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