LSAT 3 | Section 4 | Logical Reasoning: Q3

LR Question 3 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: If the city council maintains spending at the same level…

QUESTION TYPE: Parallel Reasoning

CONCLUSION: If the council levies a higher tax than 2%, it will be because the council is increasing expenditures.

REASONING: If the council maintains the same level of spending, it can be expected to levy a 2% tax.

ANALYSIS: This is a bad argument. We only know the council is expected to keep taxes at 2% if spending stays the same. But maybe taxes are bringing in less revenue than predicted and a higher rate it required even if expenditures stay the same. We simply have no idea what council will actually do. They could raise taxes for any number of reasons.

People don’t always do what is expected of them.

___________

1. This talks about what house builders are “expected” to do. But the conclusion is about them selling a greater number of houses. That has nothing to do with the info about house building costs mentioned in the premise.
2. This is a bad argument, but only because it is not clear that store detectives will result in additional profit. A store detective might cost $40,000 per year while only preventing $20,000 in theft.
3. CORRECT. We know that prices can be expected to be the same, if workers wages do not change. That does not mean that if prices change it is necessarily because wages changed. The company might do something nobody was expecting.
4. The conclusion has nothing to do with the premise…where did increasing service come from? But that isn’t the same flaw as in the stimulus.
5. This is a bad argument as it is possible that bad newspapers will have high circulation. Does the public truly want a good newspaper?

Recap: The question begins with “If the city council maintains spending at the same level”. It is a Parallel Reasoning question. Learn how to master LSAT Parallel questions on the LSAT Logical Reasoning question types page.