Logical reasoning PrepTest 109 · Section 3 · Question 19

Incorrect. Raphaela agrees with this since she believes no government (which would include the ones discussed here) has the right to tax for redistributive purposes. Edward, however, doesn't speak about governments that don't permit emigration, so this answer is out of scope of his argument.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Flawed

Question Type:
Point at Issue

Stimulus Summary:
R: It's wrong to force others to help people, so taxes are wrong.

E: If you don't like it, you can leave, so the governments do have that right.

Answer Anticipation:
There's not a lot to either of these arguments, so there's not a lot for them to disagree with. Raphaela thinks that the government doesn't have a right to tax citizens to redistribute resources, whereas Edward believes that they do have that right. Since that's relatively straightforward for a question #19, we should expect that there's some subtle overlap between the arguments that'll be thrown in as trap answers, and answer choices are going to be phrased in a way to make them hard to find the correct one, so let's dig in a little more.

Raphaela starts with a general principle—forcing people to help others is morally wrong. It can seem as if Edward disagrees with this, but he doesn't—he believes that governments do give people a choice, so we can't infer his feelings on the government forcing people to help others. The second statement we already discussed—that's the point at issue—and Raphaela ends with a note that people can always voluntarily help, which it'd be hard for anyone to disagree with—it's a weak statement that can't help but be true.

Edward talks about people having the freedom to leave the country, which Raphaela is silent on, so we can't infer her feelings on that. What we can infer is that she doesn't believe that a current country that provides this right to citizens means that they have the right to tax citizens for redistribution, as she states that "no government" has that right which would include the ones Edward is referring to.

With that all in mind let's head to the answers.

Answer Explanation:
Edward believes this is true—he states that governments have the right to redistribute wealth via taxes "insofar" as they let people leave (i.e. emigrate). Raphaela believes that "no government" has the right to tax for this purpose which includes those that allow emigration and so she'd disagree with this answer. This is therefore the point at issue between them.

Key Takeaway:
Even if you can identify the point at issue between two speakers it can be helpful to identify areas where they definitely agree and likely agree or at least don't disagree to help with incorrect answers. Also when the first speaker makes a categorical statement (e.g. Raphaela's "no government") see if the second speaker objects to it entirely or just partially. Here Edward's response applies only to governments that allow emigration and that ended up being the group to which the answer choice applied.

Incorrect. Raphaela states that people can help others voluntarily, but she doesn't say that the government should allow it. That's a bit of a pedantic distinction, so even saying that she does agree with this, there's no indication Edward wants to ban charity, so this answer isn't a point at issue between them.

Incorrect. Raphaela assumes that paying redistributive taxes counts as being forced to help others, so she'd agree with this answer. Edward, however, never disagrees with that statement, instead saying that people have the option to leave. If they stay, though, he could very well believe that paying those taxes does count as being forced to help others.

Incorrect. Raphaela doesn't discuss emigration at all, so this answer is out of scope of her argument.