Downtown Villieu was once a flourishing business district, but most Vi

Solution



Passage Analysis

Downtown Villieu was once a flourishing business district, but most Villieu-area businesses are now located only in the suburbs.
-Downtown area of Villieu was once a major business location, but it is no longer so.
-Most businesses in Villieu exists only in suburban areas now.

The office buildings downtown lack the modern amenities most business operators demand today.
-The office buildings placed downtown do not have the sophisticated facilities required for businesses these days.

To lure more businesses downtown, Villieu officials plan to have several modern office buildings constructed
-Officials at Villieu plan to build several new modern office buildings downtown to attract more businesses there.

and to offer reduced local tax rates to any business that leases space in a new downtown building.
-They also plan to give lower tax rates compared to before to any business that leases space in these new downtown buildings.


Prethinking

Plan of Villieu officials: Construct several modern office buildings and offer reduced local tax rates to any business that leases space in a new downtown building to attract businesses from the suburbs.


Weaken framework
What new information will decrease one’s belief that this plan will work?

Given that

-Most businesses are currently in the suburbs.

-The office buildings downtown lack the modern amenities most business operators demand today

Weakener 1

What if the tax in the suburbs is lesser than the reduced downtown tax as well?

Then the companies have no incentive to move to downtown.

Weakener 2

What if there is some other unmentioned factor that keeps businesses away from downtown?

Instance 1- What if the downtown area is prone to natural disasters from which the suburbs are safe?

Answer Choice Analysis

Most of the businesses currently located in downtown Villieu have long-term leases on the space they occupy there.
-This is irrelevant as we are talking about businesses from suburbs moving into new buildings downtown.

(B) The existing office buildings in downtown Villieu have, on average, a much higher vacancy rate than do office buildings in Villieu's suburbs.
-This is also irrelevant as it speaks of existing buildings downtown, which our conclusion is not about.

(C) The local tax rates in Villieu's suburbs are significantly lower than downtown Villieu's proposed rate for businesses that lease space in the new office buildings.
-This option is in line with our Prethinking weakener 1. Hence it is the right answer.

(D) Most of the businesses that currently lease office space in downtown Villieu also lease office space in Villieu's suburbs.
-This option has no impact on the plan. Hence this also is not the right weakener.


(E) With the new office buildings, downtown Villieu would have a greater amount of modern office space than any other downtown business district in the region.
-This option actually strengthens downtown Villieu’s case to attract more businesses by telling us that there is enough modern office space available with the new buildings. Hence it cannot be a weakener.



The correct answer is option C.