LSAT 109 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q23

LR Question 23 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The opposition party’s proposal to stimulate…

QUESTION TYPE: Method of Reasoning

CONCLUSION: The tax rebate won’t bring any benefit.

REASONING: Taxpayers could spend the money, but we’d have to lay off workers to balance the budget. The workers would then have no money to spend.

If we didn’t lay off workers, we’d have to raise taxes. Taxpayers would have no extra money to spend.

ANALYSIS: This is a pretty good argument. The spokesperson shows that the plan has a downside which will offset its benefits.

___________

1. Which term? I’m not kidding, to pick this type of answer choice you have to identify a term, and show how it’s used differently. It doesn’t happen here.
2. CORRECT. If taxpayers spend more, workers spend less.
3. To pick this answer, you have to fill in this blank: The spokesman says his opponents are only proposing their plan because _________
4. Actually, the spokesman suggests that $600 million in tax rebates and $600 million in workers wages will have the same effect.
    
   (It’s not a great assumption)
5. Scour the passage all you like, but the spokesperson never said that taxpayers wouldn’t spend their money.
    
   (If there were a new tax, they wouldn’t spend more money, because they’d have no extra money to spend.)

Recap: The question begins with “The opposition party’s proposal to stimulate”. It is a Method of Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Method of Reasoning questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.