Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are

Question

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are numerous food vendors. Food vendors are subject to the city's restaurant tax, and in a typical year the city collects about $ 20,000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors. Therefore, if the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $ 20,000.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A) Providing appropriate facilities for the food vendors at the crafts fair costs Waveton less than $ 20,000 a year. 
B) Attendance at the craft fair would not decline significantly if there were no food vendors there.
C) Few people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead if the food vendors were not available.
D) The food vendors at the crafts fair report their sales for the week of the fair accurately for the tax purposes. 
E) The average price of food purchased from the crafts fair's food vendors is significantly lower than the price of similar food eaten at the restaurants in Waveton.

MartyMurray · Accepted Answer

Explanation

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong crafts fair at which there are numerous food vendors. Food vendors are subject ot city's restaurant tax, and in a typical year the city collects about $20000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors. Therefore, if the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $20000.

The conclusion of the argument is the following:

if the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $20000.

We see that the author has reasoned that, since in a typical year the city collects about $20,000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors, if there were no food vendors at the fair, the city's revenue from the tax would decline by that same amount.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

This is an Assumption question, and the correct answer will be information that must be true for the evidence to effectively support the conclusion.

A. Providing appropriate facilities for the food vendors at the crafts fair costs Waveton less than $20000 a year.

The conclusion of the argument is about "revenue from the restaurant tax."

This choice is about costs.

While cost could be an important consideration if the city were seeking to determine the effects of not having food vendors at the fair, the argument works regardless of whether this choice is true.

After all, the size of these costs does not affect how much revenue the city would lose if there were no food vendors at the fair since costs and revenue are different things.

Eliminate.

B. Attendance at the crafts fair would not decline significantly if there were no food vendors there.

This choice has no effect on the argument.

After all, the argument is solely about revenue from the restaurant tax. So, it doesn't involve assumptions about other effects on the crafts fair, such as a decline in attendance, that would not affect the revenue the city gets from the restaurant tax.

If there are were food vendors at the fair, the city would get no restaurant tax revenue from the fair regardless of what attendance is.

Eliminate.

C. Few people who eat food from the food vendors during the week of crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurants instead if the food vendors were not available.

This choice could seem irrelevant to the argument because it's about restaurants rather than food vendors or revenue from food vendors. However, if we consider it carefully, we see the following.

The negation of "few people would" is "many people would." Thus, the negation of this choice is "Many people who eat food from the food vendors during the week of crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurants instead if the food vendors were not available."

If this choice is not true and it's the case that  many  people who eat food from the food vendors during the week of crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurants instead if the food vendors were not available, then although the city would not be getting tax revenue from food vendors, it would still be getting restaurant tax revenue related to the fair because fair attendees would go to restaurants.

In that case, it would not make sense to conclude that tax revenue would decrease by $20,000. After all, some or all of the decrease resulting from discontinuation of having food vendors would be offset by an increase in tax revenue from restaurants.

So, if this choice isn't true, the conclusion doesn't follow from the evidence.

Thus, this choice is an assumption on which the argument depends.

Keep.

D. The food vendors at the crafts fair report their sales for the week of the fair accurately for tax purposes.

Notice that, regardless of whether food vendors report their sales accurately, the way they report their sales has resulted in $20,000 of tax revenue annually. So, regardless of whether they report their sales accurately, it follows that, if there were no food vendors, the city would lose $20,000 in revenue.

So, the argument works regardless of whether this choice is true.

Eliminate.

E. The average price of food purchased from the crafts fair's food vendors is significantly lower than the price of similar food eaten at restaurants in Waveton.

If anything, this choice slightly weakens the argument. After all, if this choice is true, it could be that, if there are no food vendors at the fair, fair attendees will go to restaurants near the fair and pay higher prices and thus generate more tax revenue than the city would have gotten from the food vendors. In that case, the city's revenue would increase, rather than decrease, as a result of the fair's discontinuing having food vendors, a result contrary to what the author of the argument claims would occur.

Another way to handle this choice is to decide that it simply has no effect on the argument. After all, regardless of how low the food vendors' prices are, if there cease to be vendors at the fair, the city will lose the $20,000 in revenue it has been getting from the vendors.

So, either way, this choice doesn't have to be true for the argument to work.

Eliminate.

Correct answer:  C

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

Hey there. Looking over your analysis, I think I would say you have some good habits formed and you've started in the right direction, but you need to push yourself to go further.

You said:
 
This is a good, but somewhat imprecise, thought. What kinds of something would make up for the 20k decline? What *specific* decline are you interested in?

You say: 
 
You say it's a *bit* of a stretch... I say it's a big stretch. Why would  a drop in a attendance to the fair mean a drop in attendance of other restaurants (especially if the reason people aren't going to the fair now is a lack of food?) 
 
The negation of 'few' is probably not 'none,' the negation of 'few' is 'many.'

Go back to the argument itself: 
 
Ask yourself what I regard the KEY QUESTION of critical reasoning: "How could   EVEN IF the premises is/are true?"

Try to contextualize that to this argument on your own before reading how I did it! (Please do this--don't just read on).

My contextualization is: "How could the revenue from the restaurant tax NOT decline by ~20K if food vendors were removed from the craft fair, even though those food vendors generate 20K in restaurant tax revenue?"

Notice how specific I am. We're not talking about *all* tax revenue; we're talking about restaurant tax revenue only.

So try to answer that question on your own before reading on.

Okay, now I want you to consider your answer to that question in light of the following:

1). The 20K in restaurant tax from the food trucks MUST go away if the food vendors go away. 
2). So what could possibly make up that 20K in restaurant tax...?

The answer must be: spending that would have gone to the food trucks is made up at other restaurants. That is pretty much the ONLY thing that could plug the hole! So, for the argument to be true, the author must assume that the spending that WOULD have gone to the food vendors *does not go* to other restaurants.

You do not need th answer choices to come to this realization! But once you do, answer C is the only one that makes sense:
 
Yep, that says basically what I need to be true! The food vendor restaurant spending isn't being 'made up' at other restaurants. If we negate C the argument is ruined, as it would say "Many people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurants if the food vendors were not available."

ashutosh_73 · Answer

GMATNinja   KarishmaB   GMATGuruNY   ReedArnoldMPREP   AjiteshArun

This one tripped me a little, and i would like some help here.
I was in a fix between (B) and (C). Below is my understanding of both of the options.

Premise ---> Conclusion: 
If fair discontinues food vendors --> revenue from tax would decline by about $ 20k

I went to options thinking that ''what if something comes up and makes up for this $ 20k decline''?
 
Negation of (B): If there were no food vendors, then Attendance would decline significantly
If this is the case then, other restaurants may also lose their business. I know that it is  bit of a stretch to assume other res. losing business , but correct answer (C) also seemed to work on the similar assumption.
 
Negation of (C): Even if the food vendors were not available,  NONE  of the people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead.
 NONE  means restaurants are definitely gonna close, hence loss in tax revenue will be more than $ 20k

While (B) doesn't make plausible that other restaurants will close, (C) helps in assuming so. Is the difference between (B) and (C) is of degree?
Or i was being delusional?

PandCduo · Answer

The conclusion is that if food vendors are unavailable then the revenue from tax will be 20k less

If we assume C then the revenue wont be less since the restaurant tax will be morr from waveton restaurants

I think D is correct

Please explain how C is correct because it definitely does not support conclusion

Posted from my mobile device

ashutosh_73 · Answer

This is an official question, hence there should not be any dispute about the correct answer, which is (C). 
I wish i had known any better that ''why C is the correct answer, but i am sure that (D) cannot be the correct answer. 
 
 Negation of D:  Food vendor report their sales inaccurately.
Even if they report inaccurately, they still end up paying 20k. And how do we know in the first place they were reporting the sales accurately OR inaccurately?

I think, you found this option a better one because you thought: well, restuarant pays taxes on pro-rata basis, and hence if they inaccurately report the sales, they will be able to pay less than 20k in future. Hence option (D) is required.

But what if all this while,  they were paying taxes after reporting the sales incorrectly?

ashutosh_73 · Answer

Hi  ReedArnoldMPREP  , Thanks for pushing me here.
I attempted this one again, and the only thing i could come up with was: what if some new restaurants make up for $ 20k? which is exactly what (C) says.
Now i realise, i asked a very dumb question!

I just have a followup question: with the correct answer (C), are not we make an additional assumption that paying tax depends upon ''how many people eat in the restaurant''?

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

Again, be *very* specific about the needs of the question, based on what is asked, what the conclusion is, and what would ruin it!

Note that I was a little sloppy with this in my reply when I said "2). So what could possibly make up that 20K in restaurant tax...?"

See if you can figure out why that was *slightly* imprecise before reading on.

In short, I was sloppy because we don't need the full 20K to be 'made up' for the argument to fall apart.

The conclusion is that there will be a decline of ~20K in the restaurant tax, this argument falls apart if:

1). There is no decline at all, OR
2). There is a decline, but it is not ~20K dollars!

So, you were wondering, since you know Revenue = Price*Quantity, "What if the same number of people go to restaurants but spend less money than they would have." In that situation, true, there would still be a decline, but, unless their meals were *essentially free* (not a reasonable situation to consider), then the decline would not be ~20K, and the conclusion would be false. So the author must assume, in order for the decline of ~20K to remain, that the people who would have eaten at food trucks don't eat at other restaurants instead, because once they do so, either the decline would not happen at all, or, it would be less than ~20K dollars.

KarishmaB · Answer

Premises:

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are numerous food vendors. 
Food vendors are subject to the city's restaurant tax, and in a typical year the city collects about $ 20,000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors.

Conclusion:   If the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $ 20,000.

A craft fair is held. It has many food vendors too who have to pay restaurant tax. They collect 20k from food vendors at this fair.

Based of this, the author concludes that if the fair were to discontinue, revenue from restaurant tax will decline by $20k.

But there is a big assumption here, right? That the 20k in revenue from restaurant tax will not be made up for. Say usually people visit the fair and eat dinner there. If there are no food vendors, we are assuming that people will go home and cook. What if they decide to eat at a restaurant after the fair? To say that there will be a loss of 20k in revenue, we are assuming that people will not make up that revenue by going to the restaurant instead.

A) Providing appropriate facilities for the food vendors at the crafts fair costs Waveton less than $ 20,000 a year.

We are only talking about revenue of Waveton. Their costs are irrelevant here.

B) Attendance at the craft fair would not decline significantly if there were no food vendors there.

They may or may not. How does that impact revenue from restaurant tax? If food vendors are not allowed, it will still be a craft fair. Whether same number of people visit it or fewer, doesn't impact the revenue obtained from restaurant tax at all. It may impact the revenue of the craft sellers but that is out of scope for us.

C) Few people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead if the food vendors were not available.

Correct. This is what we discussed above.

D) The food vendors at the crafts fair report their sales for the week of the fair accurately for the tax purposes.

Irrelevant. The collection is $20k, whether accurate or less. This will be the loss in revenue if there are no food vendors, supposedly.

E) The average price of food purchased from the crafts fair's food vendors is significantly lower than the price of similar food eaten at the restaurants in Waveton.

Irrelevant. Again, the actual price of food items at the cart don't matter. The point is will we lose the $20k collected in restaurant tax from the food vendor?

Answer (C)

az168 · Answer

Hi Karishma, this Q appeared in one of the official Mocks, although i was able to mark the correct answer there were some after thoughts Would really appreciate if you could help me soften some rough edges here

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are numerous food vendors. Food vendors are subject to the city's restaurant tax, and in a typical year the city collects about $ 20,000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors. Therefore, if the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $ 20,000. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? Conclusion: Vendors discontinue, W's revenue from Restaurant Tax would decline by about 20K Assumption: Somehow, the restaurant tax won't come flow in to the coffers of W Government. The key issue I faced while selecting the correct answer was: Who is supposed to pay the 2000 dollars? Only the vendors or the Restaurants in general? Or only those vendors who cater to the audience of the Annual Craft Fair. WE are given that the food vendors are subject to the tax, food vendors pay this restaurant tax. How can we assume that Restaurant owners will also need to pay this tax if the audience of the this fair ends up wining and dining at their stations ? This is somehow unclear ? A) Providing appropriate facilities for the food vendors at the crafts fair costs Waveton less than $ 20,000 a year. B) Attendance at the craft fair would not decline significantly if there were no food vendors there. C) Few people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead if the food vendors were not available. Negation of (C ) - Many people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead if the food vendors were not available If this were true, the argument isn't necessarily destroyed: Because we are not given that these restaurants are also supposed to pay these taxes or for that matter they aren't already paying these taxes In essence the issue is that we are not clear whether this tax is to be paid over and above what the restaurants are already paying and/or it is to be paid by those vendors/restaurants who serve the people at fair D) The food vendors at the crafts fair report their sales for the week of the fair accurately for the tax purposes. E) The average price of food purchased from the crafts fair's food vendors is significantly lower than the price of similar food eaten at the restaurants in Waveton.

consistentprep · Answer

The whole confusion with Choice C is clear when we read  Few = None

anushree01 · Answer

ReedArnoldMPREP

The negation list you have shared is helpful. Could you pls elaborate on how to think in order to negate instead of learning their respective negations ?
I keep getting confused on how to negate few, none etc

miag · Answer

Hi, Let me try to help out here: Step 1: Translate the word into plain English Before negating, always ask: None: zero Few: a small number (clearly less than half ) Some: at least one Many: a large number (often more than half , but not necessarily all) Most: more than half Step 2: Ask: What would make this statement false? Example 1: Few people would eat at restaurants instead. Meaning: So when is this FALSE? If a large number would If a substantial portion would >> Therefore, the negation is many , not none . Example 2: Some people would eat at restaurants instead. Meaning: When is this FALSE? If zero people would >> Negation = none Hope this helps!

Borrat · Answer

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are numerous food vendors. Food vendors are subject to the city's restaurant tax, and in a typical year the city collects about $ 20,000 in restaurant taxes from the fair's food vendors. Therefore, if the fair were to discontinue having food vendors, Waveton's revenue from the restaurant tax would decline by about $ 20,000.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A) Providing appropriate facilities for the food vendors at the crafts fair costs Waveton less than $ 20,000 a year.  -- tax doesn't depend on costs. so this is a frameshift  
B) Attendance at the craft fair would not decline significantly if there were no food vendors there.  -- negate: attendance will go up in the area .. but will they go eat at waveton ? thats an assumption chain -  
C) Few people who eat food from the food vendors during the weeks of the crafts fair would eat at Waveton's restaurant instead if the food vendors were not available.  -- if negated : many will eat at waveton --- rev up - so weakener 
D) The food vendors at the crafts fair report their sales for the week of the fair accurately for the tax purposes.  -- if negated this clashes with a premise 
E) The average price of food purchased from the crafts fair's food vendors is significantly lower than the price of similar food eaten at the restaurants in Waveton.  -- irrel comparison, also req. assumption chain - its talks about price but arg is about rev.

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Waveton hosts an annual weeklong craft fair at which there are

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards