Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

California levies its real-estate tax as a percentage of a property's assessed value. California reassessed
all properties late last year, ensuring that this year's real-estate tax on a given property fairly reflects that
property's current value. By comparison with the previous assessment 3 years ago, the mean assessed
property value was considerably lower. Nonetheless, the mean real-estate tax bill sent to California’s
property owners this year is likely to be no lower than last year's, because __________.

A. the assessed value of relatively modest properties in California went down more, on average, than that of
more valuable properties
B. actual selling prices of properties sold in California so far this year have been higher, on average, than assessed values
C. a likely consequence of declining real-estate values in California will be a general slow-down in the local economy
D. there have been many real-estate transactions over the last year, and many current property owners did
not own California property a year ago
E. the real-estate tax rate in California has not been set for this year, but will probably be higher than last year's rate

Please support your answers with explanations
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B or E...go for B..

E because..rate will probably higher than last year rate..

B because ..sales value increase..

tooo tough question for me..

Going with the flow of the question, E seems preferable over others in that it quite explicitly mentions the reason even though the rates are not assessed, the bills are likely to be higher.
When choosing B, we have to make an assumption that the seller must sell its property at the assessed value.
Was stuck over D for sometime, but no way we can infer info that even if many transactions took place last year, the property tax will be higher this year.
+1 E.
What's OA, OE and source?
Nice question though.
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The only real viable options are B and E. But the first sentence clearly says that taxes are levied only on the basis of the assessed values. So selling price is immaterial. Option E clearly provides an explanation of how the tax bill would remain the same even though the assessed values had decreased.

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My Own PS Question 1

Given:
Properties assessed last year.
Mean Assessed value 3 years ago > Mean Assessed value a year ago => Assessed values are declining
Mean real estate tax bill this year >= Mean real estate tax bill last year


To make Mean real estate bill at least equal to last years', the tax rate has to be increased if not done already.

Choice A - Cannot be determined for sure with the information given
Choice B and C are out of scope
Choice D is irrelevant to the current context

Choice E is the right choice.


Hope this helps