| Critical Reasoning Butler: April 2025 |
| April 2 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 High marginal tax rates do not lead to a large middle class; if this was the case, the nations with the highest marginal tax rates would also have the largest middle classes. The reality is that if marginal tax rates are adjusted to allow different countries to be reliably compared to one other, no such correlation is found.
If the statements above are all true, which of the following can properly be inferred on the basis of them?
A. Increasing a country’s marginal tax rates will not necessarily result in the growth of its middle class.
B. Reliably comparing the marginal tax rates of one country with another’s is not possible.
C. Nations with high marginal tax rates tend to restrict the growth of the upper class.
D. When countries are arranged in descending order by population, the least-populous countries generally have the lowest marginal tax rates and the smallest middle classes.
E. Nations with the highest marginal tax rates never have proportionally small middle classes.
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CR 2 Executive: My only opponent for the post of CEO has a corporate restructuring plan that goes against the goals of many on the board of directors. Nonetheless, some of these same members support him for the position due to his push for greater vertical integration. In order to win these members’ votes, I must prove to the members that my opponent does not align with their goals with regard to corporate restructuring.
Which of the following would, if true, most strongly suggest that the executive’s plan is unlikely to succeed?
A. On some topics, the executive and his opponent are in strong agreement.
B. Most of the members of the board of directors who support the executive care very much about vertical integration, but do not know much about corporate restructuring.
C. Sometimes, long-term corporate restructuring goals come into conflict with short-term corporate restructuring goals.
D. Many of the members of the board of directors who support the executive’s opponent for his push for greater vertical integration also support his corporate restructuring plan and are fully aware of its implication.
E. Some members of the board of directors are concerned about both the corporate restructuring plan and vertical integration.