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18 Jan 2020, 05:52
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D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
15%
(low)
Question Stats:
81% (01:47) correct
19%
(02:04)
wrong
based on 1675
sessions
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Under current federal law, employers are allowed to offer their employees free parking spaces as a tax-free benefit, but they can offer employees only up to $180 per year as a tax-free benefit for using mass transit. The government could significantly increase mass transit ridership by raising the limit of this benefit to meet commuters’ transportation costs.
The proposal above to increase mass transit ridership assumes that
(A) current mass transit systems are subject to unexpected route closings and delays
(B) using mass transit creates less air pollution per person than using a private automobile
(C) the parking spaces offered by employers as tax-free benefits can be worth as much as $2,500 per year
(D) many employees are deterred by financial considerations from using mass transit to commute to their places of employment
(E) because of traffic congestion on major commuter routes, it is often faster to travel to one’s place of employment by means of mass transit than by private automobile
The proposal above to increase mass transit ridership assumes that
(A) current mass transit systems are subject to unexpected route closings and delays
(B) using mass transit creates less air pollution per person than using a private automobile
(C) the parking spaces offered by employers as tax-free benefits can be worth as much as $2,500 per year
(D) many employees are deterred by financial considerations from using mass transit to commute to their places of employment
(E) because of traffic congestion on major commuter routes, it is often faster to travel to one’s place of employment by means of mass transit than by private automobile
27 Jan 2020, 05:08
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A bit of a strange question, because no answer should be even tempting besides D. The question is solely about financial incentives to use different types of transportation, so the stem is clearly assuming those incentives affect employee behaviour. So D is the right answer. Pollution is irrelevant to the argument, as is the speed of driving and the speed of public transit. C at least discusses financial incentives, but it is too specific to ever be an assumption: we don't need to assume that parking costs specifically $2500 to make this argument. Since we could change that number to, say, $10,000, and answer C would convey the same information, it can't possibly be an assumption, because assumptions are required to be true as is; they can't be changed.
29 Mar 2020, 10:00
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Tafannum
Hello, Tafannum. This is a standard assumption question, so we need to find a necessary condition that would tie into the logic of the proposal. What does the passage lay out for us?
Bunuel
Sentence 1 broaches the topic at the heart of the matter. We see that there are two possibilities for employers to offer employees something related to transportation as a tax-free benefit to the employer. The first option is free parking spaces; the second is up to $180 per year... for using mass transit.
Sentence 2 gives us a projection that more employees would use mass transit if the government would raise the $180-per-year mass transit credit, since, presumably, commuters' transportation costs exceed that amount.
The assumption must have a firm grounding in the passage, so let us see what the answers have in store.
Bunuel
We have to assume such problems for the proposal to make sense? Why would anyone want to take mass transit if it were so unreliable? Remember, the passage tells us that the government could significantly increase mass transit ridership. This answer choice provides a reason why people might not want to use it. There is no logic to connect this choice to anything presented in the passage.
Bunuel
Be that as it may, air pollution is not a concern for us. Remember, we have to find a missing piece of information that would necessarily allow the proposal to seem reasonable. The passage does not indicate anything about pollution, so it does not need to draw a comparison about pollution between different modes of transportation.
Bunuel
Wow, really? The proposal has to assume that these parking spaces could be worth up to that exact figure? If that makes sense to you, then you must be clairvoyant. Although the information here is loosely tied to the passage, it is in no way required for us to see how the proposal about increasing mass transit ridership could be sensible.
Bunuel
This makes perfect sense. I know it may seem like a small thing, but notice the many. Since the rationale is that, again, the government could significantly increase mass transit ridership by..., there have to be many employees hanging in the balance, or, in other words, the decision has to affect a lot of people. If many workers currently drive because they feel it is too expensive to use mass transit, then the proposal would indeed have firm grounding: a lot of people would stand to gain if their employers could cover the cost of using mass transit, since the government would have increased the amount of tax-free benefits it provided such employers. This is our answer.
Bunuel
This is a nice distraction, but nothing more. You might reason that more people would ride mass transit if the government were to provide increased benefits to employers to pass on to employees, but there is a piece missing. This answer choice has nothing to do with money, but with speed instead. Since the passage does not concern itself with commute times one way or the other, this cannot be the necessary assumption we seek.
I hope that helps answer your question. If not, I would be happy to discuss the matter further. Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
