In country X each taxpayer files, either individually or

Question

In country X each taxpayer files, either individually or jointly, one federal tax return per year. Did more than 10 million of the taxpayers who filed a federal tax return for 1984 report having individual retirement accounts? 

(1) Of the 90 million federal tax returns filed for 1984 in country X, 1/3 were joint returns filed by two taxpayers, all other returns were filed by individual taxpayers.

(2) Of the country X taxpayers who filed federal tax returns in 1984, exactly 10.5 percent reported having individual retirement accounts. 

Please explain, thank you.

chunjuwu · Answer

excuse me, could you give me the reason? 

thank you

chunjuwu · Answer

sorry, could somebody help me, please.

venksune · Answer

Sorry chunjuwu, was out of action the past one day - other commitments. Taking the challenge 4 itself became a challenge. Anyways, coming to your question, this is how I approached it.

Rewriting the question stem we have 
Did no. of people who filed individual retirement accounts ((IRA in short for our understanding) >than 10Million?
Note:This is a 'yes' or 'No' question.

Now, going to (1) we have 
No. of people who filed federal tax returns = 90Million
Also, 1/3rd i.e, 30 Million were Joint returns and
2/3rd i.e remaining 60 million were Individual taxpayers.

What is missing is that we do not know anything about IRA here. Hence 1 by itself is insufficient.

Now going to (2) we have
Of the 'X' people who filed their returns 10.5 % reported having IRA.
What is missing is 'X'. So, 2 by itself is insufficient.

Looking at 1 and 2 together we have

'X' is 90M from (1). So we can find the IRA. Note that 10.5% of 90M is less than 10Million. We can firmly answer No. So the best answer is C.

chunjuwu · Answer

Sorry, Venksune, 

I supposed in the first choice, the 90 million federal tax returns  is the total amount of money rather than the total number of taxpayers . 

But in the second choice, it talked about the percentage of   taxpayers . 

Can we multiply both of them. 

Am I wrong ?

thank you

venksune · Answer

No Chunjuwu. The first choice is 90 Million federal tax returns filed or 90 Million taxpayers who filed their returns for the year. The 90 Million is NOT the amount of money collected.

chunjuwu · Answer

Thank you Venksune. 

I have figured out. 

From the passage, we know that each taxpayer files one federal tax return. So, the first choice talked about people, right? 


thank you

In country X each taxpayer files, either individually or

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