LSAT 140 | Section 4 | Reading Comprehension: Q12

RC Question 12 Explanation

DISCUSSION: Another question about the relationship between the passages. Knowing the main point of each passage would answer at least three questions on this passage.

Passage A describes a new phenomenon. Passage B describes how to deal with the taxation issues that arise from that new phenomenon.

___________

1. CORRECT. The first part is obviously correct. You may have hesitated about the second part. Are online game economies really a problem?
   Yes. See the last sentence of paragraph 4 of passage B. If we don’t tax online economies to some extent, they will be a tax shelter.
   To be clear: “A problem raised” is not really a negative term. The author of passage B could think “online economies are excellent. There’s just one small problem (issue) we have to address”.
2. Passage A isn’t describing an economic theory. The passage just describes Edward Castronova’s discovery of online economies, in an article addressed at the general public. A theory would be like “online economies behave exactly like real world economies. This paper will show….”
3. Passage B didn’t say it would be difficult to tax online games. Passage B was debating whether and how we should tax online games.
4. Hogwash. Before Passage A, there wasn’t even a common interpretation of online economies. Edward Castronova discovered them. So there’s no common interpretation for Passage B to affirm.
5. Passage B isn’t theoretical. An article is not theoretical just because it is scholarly. Passage B is discussing the very practical issue of whether we ought to tax online economies.