The government of Country X recently enacted legislation that

Question

The government of Country X recently enacted legislation that eliminated property tax credits for homeowners who purchase solar water heaters. Due to this change, solar water heater sales in Country X, which have tripled over the past three years, will likely slow drastically within the next two years.

Which of the following statements, if true, most weakens the conclusion reached above?

A. The majority of homeowners in Country X do not own a solar water heater.
B. Home energy prices are not expected to change over the next two years.
C. Solar water heaters are known to have less heating capacity than traditional water heaters.
D. Most consumers in Country X who purchased solar water heaters over the last three years were unaware of the tax credit.
E. Economic research has found that solar water heaters are more expensive to keep up and replace than are traditional water heaters.

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Rucha.Shukla · Answer

D?

Cause effect mentioned in the argument doesn't hold true in D hence weakens the arg

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Fish181 · Answer

Paraphrasing, the question says that solar water heater sales tripled over the last three years but the tax credit they give people for it is going away, therefore people will likely stop buying as many of the solar water heaters. The question asks us to find the answer choice that will most likely weaken this claim that due to the tax credit going away, less people will buy the heaters.

A. The majority of homeowners in Country X do not own a solar water heater.
      -  this doesn't indicate anything about the claim that with the tax credit going away, less people will buy water heaters. Cross out.

B. Home energy prices are not expected to change over the next two years. 
      - Ok, lets say energy prices are expected to change DRASTICALLY over the next two years, do we know how this will affect solar heating sales without assuming stuff we don't know for certain? Cross out.
 C. Solar water heaters are known to have less heating capacity than traditional water heaters.
       - This question is not relevant to what is being asked. This still doesn't call into question the effect of removing the tax credit. It doesn't even mention the tax credit. Cross out.

D. Most consumers in Country X who purchased solar water heaters over the last three years were unaware of the tax credit. 
     - Correct. Since the question is asking us to weaken the claim that since the tax credit is going away, less people will buy the water heaters. But if water heater sales have tripled over the last three years and most people didn't even know about the tax credit, it's safe to assume that people don't care about the tax credit and therefore sales will likely continue to be strong even once the tax credit is gone.
 E. Economic research has found that solar water heaters are more expensive to keep up and replace than are traditional water heaters. 
     - Similar to answer choice C, this problem doesn't even mention the tax credit. It's out of scope. We're trying to find an answer choice that weakens the claim that if the tax credit is taken away, sales will still continue to be strong. Cross out.

Answer choice D is the correct one here.

Legenddary1234 · Answer

IDK IMO A should be the right answer,

Fish181 , how can we assume this that Tax credit will go away. it is high possibility that the sale of Solar heater will decrease in next 2 years because all the houses have installed that..

can someone please expalain what is wrong with this logic

Fish181 · Answer

Hi, I think you may be not fully understanding what the passage tells us. They purposely word it so you will mess up. In simpler words the passage says and argues that the government has eliminated the tax credit and because of this, solar heater sales will likely slow down. Your logic isn't necessarily wrong it just isn't what the argument is saying. I think you're having trouble seeing what's in scope here.

The argument says  because the tax credit is eliminated, solar panel sales, which used to thrive, will likely not be as strong anymore . The question asks us to find which answer choice will make this argument fail.

Answer choice D says basically in simpler terms that people have been buying the solar heaters without even knowing about the tax credit, so that means that people don't care about the tax credit. If they don't care about the tax credit, then the argument that because the tax credit is elimnated, less people will buy solar heaters is rendered pretty useless.

Legenddary1234 · Answer

Fish181  Thanks for the explanation!

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Identify the Question Type:

The words “most weakens the conclusion” in the stem indicate that this is a Weaken question.

Untangle the Stimulus:

The conclusion is in the second sentence: sales of solar heaters will slow in the next two years. The evidence is that solar water heater sales have tripled over the last three years, but a tax credit that was in effect during that time has just been eliminated.

Predict the Answer:

In order for this argument to work, the author has to assume that the tax credit was the main reason for the rising solar water heater sales. Otherwise, the elimination of the credit won’t make any difference. The correct choice will attack this assumption. It will suggest that the tax credit was not the main reason why sales of solar water heaters have been rising.

Evaluate the Choices:

(D) matches the prediction, and is the correct answer. If consumers of the heaters weren’t even aware of the tax credit, then the credit couldn’t have been the reason they bought the heaters.

(A) just suggests there are still potential buyers of solar heaters in County X. The question is whether the elimination of the credit will affect the chances of sales to those buyers. (A) gives no indication, and is therefore irrelevant.

Similarly, even if the price of energy doesn't go up, people may still want to buy solar water heaters, so (B) has no effect on the argument.

(C) and (E) both tend to strengthen the argument. They cite negative features of solar water heaters, which make it even more likely that consumers will buy fewer of them when the tax credit goes away.

TAKEAWAY:  Whenever an author makes the argument that a change in one factor will lead to a changed outcome, she's assuming that the original outcome was actually caused by that factor.

The government of Country X recently enacted legislation that

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The government of Country X recently enacted legislation that

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