It is well known that many homeless people frequent public libraries

The answer should be A based on the following reasoning:

The author concludes that "the homeless do not pay property taxes to support the library, so these people are getting something for nothing" Now, instead of paying property taxes, if these people are paying some other tax etc, then they are not getting something for nothing. Instead, they would be paying for what they get.

a) None of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries - Correct!
b) The general public that uses the libraries does not mind the services provided to the homeless - Out of scope because the argument has nothing to do with the general public.
c) Many of the homeless people who use public libraries as sanctuaries check the library’s local newspapers for job listings - Again, out of scope because they would still get something for nothing
d) Some libraries that offer programs to the homeless cannot afford these programs - Changes the focus from the homeless to the library.
e) Property taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries - I first fell for this option but then I eliminated it because of the word 'predominantly' which is too strong based on the argument.

It is a close call between option A and E. I too answered as E without applying the correct technique.

Conclusion: These people ("homeless") are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned

Applying the assumption negation technique...
e) Property taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries.
becomes
e) Property taxes are NOT used predominantly to support public libraries.
If property taxes are not used, then the homeless are actually getting something for free. This negated option strengthens the conclusion. The correct answer if negated should weaken the conclusion. Hence not the correct answer choice.

a) None of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.
becomes
a) Some None of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.
If some of the sales tax paid is used by libraries, then the homeless people are not getting something free. This weakens the conclusion, hence the correct answer.

Thanks

Answer is A.
Author`s conclusion: these people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned.
Premise produced in support: The homeless do not pay property taxes to support the library.
Author makes the conclusion with very strong words, saying these people are getting something for "nothing". So, the assumption made is the poor are not paying anything back to library in any form. This is inline with option A.

Hello sidhant10

The conclusion of this argument is that "these people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned."
From the text of argument we know that homeless use public library for free.
Author made this conclusion because homeless don't pay property tax.

But what if homeless pay some another taxes and these taxes are used for support of libraries? Then this conclusion is wrong.

Variant A states directly that sales taxes which homeless pay don't go on support of libraries so we can infer that homeless really use public libraries for free.

P.S. In assumption, weakener and stregthener we can include new information.
This are inference and must be true questions that can't include new information.
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The author makes a normative claim that the homeless shouldn't "get something for nothing", meaning that the homeless don't pay for the library services they are offered.

Option (A) and (E) addresses this. (A) mentions that sales taxes paid for by the homeless may support the library. (E) mentions that property taxes predominantly pay for the library's services.

It is clear that the author believes that the homeless don't contribute financially in any way to support the library. It's also clear that the author believes that property tax is the only source of taxed funding for public libraries. (A) explores one alternative to undermine the author's assumption. Sales tax may sound irrelevant, and so would, say, charitable donations, but keep in mind that the author is generalizing, so including an example which contradicts or simply reveals the author's hasty generalization is perfectly sound. Whereas, (E)'s language is too weak (not strong, as someone else mentioned earlier). If (E) stated that only property taxes are used to fund public libraries, then both (A) and (E) would be correct answers, but that's not the case here.

(A) is correct.

Hi ,

Could you please explain option E. as I was between A and E. just want to know what is the issue with E?

Thanks

Hello PathFinder007

The conclusion of this argument is that "these people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned."
From the text of argument we know that homeless use public library for free.
Author made this conclusion because homeless don't pay property tax.

But what if homeless pay some another taxes and these taxes are used for support of libraries? Then this conclusion is wrong.

Variant E says that "Property taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries."
This information does not exclude possibility of another tax sources to support public libraries. 100% of property tax going to support public libraries but it is only 40% of budget of public libraries and another 60% received from sales tax in which homeless take a part.

And variant A states directly that sales taxes which homeless pay don't go on support of libraries so we can infer that homeless really use public libraries for free.
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The conclusion states these homeless people are getting something for nothing. Not paying property tax is just given an example to emphasize the previous statement. The author basically assumes that these people do not support the library economically in any form. "A" if reversed suggests that these people might be paying some other tax which may support the library. Hence in reversed form "A" goes against the conclusion. So that is the answer.
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HI chetan2u / VeritasPrepKarishma ,

Nowhere in the argument SALES TAX mentioned then how could E be the answer. I agree that the assumption answer provide new information but the answer doesn't provide something out of box.

Eg-
John earn $1000 a month. So he must be very foody.
Assumption- John spend more hen half of his earnings on food.

But saying anything like, he do not spend his earnings in pubs, movies etc etc.
This is completely out of box

Can you please assist.
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Hi,
I believe you intend to say A while writing E..

Lets rephrase the para-

The para says that local libraries are helping HOMELESS people as a source of welfare. But as the tag HOMELESS suggests that they do not pay property tax. and as property tax finds its way back in these PUBLIC libraries as some sort of grant, these people are not paying for enjoying this welfare..

the assumption persay should be that no kind of taxes these people pay or any kind of revenues generated by government through these homeless people gets back to these libraries. Since if any kind of taxes paid by these people is used in the libraries, the argument will fall flat that these people are not paying for sustaining public libraries..

Choice A does not specify ALL but gives assumption of another tax, maybe since generally sales tax is the most common form of tax and these people are ot likely to be paying Income Tax..
SALES tax is generally on anything purchased, so it is likely that these guys are paying this TAX..
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Conclusion: Homeless people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned.
Premise: the homeless do not pay property taxes to support the library.

Possible assumption:
They are not paying money in any other form that goest to support library.

Let's POE

a) CorrectNone of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.
This matches with our prethinking.
Negate it: Some of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.
the negated A shows that actually they are paying something to support libray and this negated version shatters conclusion.
Hence correct
b) IncorrectThe general public that uses the libraries does not mind the services provided to the homeless. OFS
c)Incorrect Many of the homeless people who use public libraries as sanctuaries check the library’s local newspapers for job listings. OFS. Job listiong????
d)Incorrect Some libraries that offer programs to the homeless cannot afford these programs.
Not help conclusion in any way.
e) IncorrectProperty taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries.
OFS

Premise: It is well known that many homeless people frequent public libraries as a kind of sanctuary.

Premise: Now, several dozen public libraries across the country have made their facilities more useful to homeless people by offering free job training programs, for adults and free activities for homeless children.

Premise: While the administrators of these libraries mean well, the homeless do not pay property taxes to support the library,

Conclusion: so these people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned.

Libraries are providing facilities to the homeless people
Homeless …………..not pay PROPERTY TAXES
Homeless……………do not support library
Homeless are getting SOMETHING FOR NOTHING…………..

1) But if they do some work for the library through which the library is saving money….
2) Or they pay in different form than property taxes

A. None of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.
Negated statement: All of the sales tax paid by homeless people is used by the libraries. Then they are losing out something and library is gaining. It completely shatters the conclusion. CORRECT.

B. The general public that uses the libraries does not mind the services provided to the homeless.
OUT OF SCOPE

C. Many of the homeless people who use public libraries as sanctuaries check the library’s local newspapers for job listings.
OUT OF SCOPE. NO IMPACT ON THE CONCLUSION

D. Some libraries that offer programs to the homeless cannot afford these programs.
This choice does not support the conclusion in any way.

E. Property taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries.
True. But still these people are getting something. No impact on conclusion as such, Incorrect.
Negated statement: Property taxes are NOT used predominantly to support public libraries.
If this is so the whole argument fails because then the main point of discussion is no more the main point.
But there might be other things needed to support libraries which these homeless people might or might not support.
But these people are still getting something for nothing. Conclusion still holds true.

Good question. A part of solving the question starts from identifying the crux conclusion of the author - so these people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned.
Since Homeless people dont pay anything, they shouldn't be getting anything.

Option A: touches on this aspect. On negating, sales tax paid by homeless people does infact get contributed to Libraries. This would imply that homeless people pay, not property taxes, but sales taxes for contributing to Libraries. This weakens the conclusion of the author. Hence A.

Option D: Negate D. Some libraries that offer programs to homeless can afford these programs. This does not impact the conclusion of the argument as stated above. Hence D is out.

Hope this helps.
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OA and explanation

Answer: A

Explanation: The author concludes that the homeless people are getting something for nothing because they don’t pay property taxes which are used to support the library. However, if these people are paying other kinds of taxes, such as sales taxes, that ARE used to support the library, then they are not getting something for nothing. Thus, saying that the sales tax paid by homeless does not go to the library strengthens the position that homeless people are getting something for nothing.

(B) The attitudes of the general public do not figure into the scope of this argument.

(C) Whether some homeless people already make use of the library is irrelevant to the scope of this argument, which deals with the free programs.

(D) Though this evidence might be used to oppose the program, it does not support the conclusion that people are getting something for nothing.

(E) The author does believe that at least some property taxes are used to support public libraries, but we cannot say that the author assumes most of the taxes are used that way.

Public libraries are offering free job training programs for homeless adults and free activities for homeless children.
Homeless do not pay property taxes to support the library

Conclusion: Homeless people are getting something for nothing, a dangerous practice for all concerned.

All that the premises tell us is that homeless do o pay property taxes (presumably because they do not have homes (property)) which supports libraries. So they are getting something for nothing. The premises do not tell us that they are not supporting the library in any way. But we are concluding that because they do not pay property taxes, they are getting something for nothing.

(A) None of the sales tax paid by homeless people who use the free services is used by the libraries.

Homeless pay sales tax. The argument is assuming that that is not used by libraries. If it were used by libraries then we cannot say that the homeless are getting something for nothing. Their sales tax revenue would have been used by libraries and libraries would have provided facilities to them. For the conclusion to hold, we must assume that their contribution is not used for libraries.

(B) The general public that uses the libraries does not mind the services provided to the homeless.

Irrelevant what the public thinks. Point is, do homeless get something for nothing, a dangerous practice?

(C) Many of the homeless people who use public libraries as sanctuaries check the library’s local newspapers for job listings.

Irrelevant. Checking newspapers does not make them contribute to library upkeep.

(D) Some libraries that offer programs to the homeless cannot afford these programs.

Irrelevant. Whether libraries can afford or not is not the point. Even if the libraries can afford, it may be a dangerous practice.

(E) Property taxes are used predominantly to support public libraries.

Not necessary. The argument tells us that property taxes do go toward library maintenance. Do they predominantly go toward supporting public libraries, we don't know and we don't care. Other uses of property taxes is irrelevant.

Answer (A)
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How is it possible that the homeless pay sales taxes to the library for "FREE" services? If they did, then it wouldn't be free anymore. This is the type of question and answer choice that clogs my brain with unnecessary confusion. Also, I feel like this should be an inference question. We can definitely infer from the author's argument that the homeless do not pay anything towards the libraries. However, how do we assume that their sales taxes paid are not used by the library?

Hi all, can anyone help me out with the meaning of this phrase “ While the administrators of these libraries mean well,”? I got the answer correct but wanted to know what this particular sentence means 😅

Thanks in advance
Hardy

"They mean well" means they are trying to do the right thing. They are trying to be kind and helpful. So they expect the results to be positive (which may not be the case).

See this too: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictio ... /mean-well

Posted from my mobile device
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At first I thought they were mean 😅 but thanks for clarifying.❤️