nave81 wrote:
According to the Department of Social Services, new taxes need to be generated to maintain the solvency of the state's Medical Aid program, which provides medical coverage for the state's poor and uninsured residents. The governor has proposed that a special tax be imposed on those with incomes greater than $300,000 a year to pay for the shortfalls in the Medical Aid program. While new revenues are indeed needed to maintain the Medical Aid program's solvency, the governor's plan for securing the needed funds should be rejected because it would force certain taxpayers to absorb the cost for something from which they would receive no benefit.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most doubt on the feasibility of the governor's plan to maintain the solvency of the state's Medical Aid program?
Weaken the argument. Which of the below would hamper (not only influence) the feasibility of governor's plan?
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A. Before any such tax increase can be imposed, the state is required by law to hold hearings at which objections to the proposed tax hike can be raised.
The objections can be raised, but not necessarily will be. A) informs us only about the formal procedure, but suggests no objections to the plan.
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B. Imposing a special tax will fail to address the underlying causes for the increasing costs to maintain the state's Medical Aid program or the increasing number of uninsured residents in the state.
Adressing the underlying causes is not the issue in question. This is out of scope.
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C. In recent years, changes to the Medical Aid funding formula have shifted much of the burden for maintaining the program from the federal government to state governments.
It is irrelevant, who is burdened with the funding. Out of scope.
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D. Those with incomes greater than $300,000 a year represent a powerful political constituency in the state and previous attempts to impose tax increases on this group have been blocked by the state legislature.
Those with incomes greater than $300,000 a year are subject to the plan. If the plan is against their interest, and if they are capable of thwarting the plan, they logically will defend their own interest by thwarting the plan. D informs us that they are capable of thwarting the plan, and have already done it once at that! They are likely do it again. This is the answer.
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E. Other states that have tried to impose similar targeted tax increases to maintain the solvency of their Medical Aid programs have met with mixed success.
This is a well known GMAC's trap answer. It is always irrelevant, what happened in other locations/to other people/etc.