QUESTION TEXT: Politician P: My opponent claims that the…
QUESTION TYPE: Flawed Reasoning
CONCLUSION: P thinks his opponent is wrong to say we are obliged to raise taxes to pay for valuable things.
REASONING: Taxpayers will get upset that they have less money.
ANALYSIS: P’s argument ignores the issue. His opponent says we have to raise taxes. That might be true, perhaps the law requires a certain level of funding.
P ignores this issue, and talks about some bad things that will happen if we raise taxes.
Taxes will surely have some negative effects, but P needs to show there is no obligation.
For those who like analogies: suppose I say that we have to walk 10 miles across the desert to reach safety. P says that would be uncomfortable, therefore there’s no need to walk across all that hot sand.
___________
- Complete this sentence. P says: “My opponent also has the following unpopular view ______.”
- Complete this sentence. P says: “My opponent is an _______,”
- CORRECT. P’s misses his opponent’s point. His opponent said we had to raise taxes, not that we should. P needs to argue we don’t have to raise taxes.
- The burdens of taxes aren’t a completely irrelevant issue. They’re just not the main point.
- This would be a criticism of P’s opponent. We’re not told why we must raise taxes.
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