The Elk City Garbage Dumps are so Full that Elk City has Been Forced to Pay a Large Sum to Caribou City to Accept much of Elk City’s Garbage.

Question: The Elk City garbage dumps are so full that Elk City has been forced to pay a large sum to Caribou City to accept much of Elk City’s garbage. The Elk City mayor has proposed paying for this garbage relocation by imposing a tax on manufacturing businesses in Elk City. MegaCorp, the largest manufacturing business in the area, protests that this tax is unfair because businesses should not have to pay for a garbage problem that has been created by homeowners.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens MegaCorp’s argument?

1. MegaCorp already pays more than $10,000 per year in taxes and fees to Elk City.
2. MegaCorp employs more than 60 percent of the employed residents of Elk City.
3. A recycling program would address the garbage problem more effectively by reducing the overall quantity of waste.
4. MegaCorp’s manufacturing processes produce more than 90 percent of the total waste that goes into Elk City’s garbage dumps.
5. Caribou City is happy to receive the extra garbage because the fees it collects from Elk City have helped to address a shortfall in education funding.

The Elk City garbage dumps are so full that Elk City has been forced to pay a large sum to Caribou City to accept much of Elk City’s garbage. – is a GMAT Critical question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘GMAT Official Guide 2022 Bundle’. This is a Conclusion Weakening question. In this particular topic, candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: E
Explanation:

This is a weakening the conclusion type of question. We need to first break down the argument.
Let us go through the passage provided and see which option suits the best.
The first two sentences from the passage are premises which provide factual data.
The last sentence uses a conclusion word (concluded). Hence, we can consider this as the conclusion:

Let us take the premises now:

Premise A: Elk City has been forced to pay a large sum to Caribou City to accept much of Elk City’s garbage.

Premise B: The mayor has proposed paying for this garbage relocation by imposing a tax on manufacturing businesses.

From the above two premise, we get:
Conclusion: MegaCorp protests that this tax because businesses should not have to pay for a garbage problem that has been created by homeowners.

From this, we can assume that homeowners produce more garbage than the manufacturing company.
Though this fact is not stated, the conclusion means that this is true.

Now, we need to find the option that is weakening the conclusion.

1. MegaCorp already pays more than $10,000 per year in taxes and fees to Elk City. - There is no such information stated in the passage. Hence, this is out of context and incorrect.
2. MegaCorp employs more than 60 percent of the employed residents of Elk City. - This is also out pof context. It does not relate to the conclusion and hence, it is incorrect.
3. A recycling program would address the garbage problem more effectively by reducing the overall quantity of waste. - The passage does not state this though this would be the on;ly solution. The government imposing more tax should not happen as manufacturing units does not produce the waste as per the conclusion. This does not weaken the conclusion and hence, this is incorrect.
4. MegaCorp’s manufacturing processes produce more than 90 percent of the total waste that goes into Elk City’s garbage dumps - MegaCorp states that they do not produce more waste than home makers. This options states the direct opposite, making the conclusion weak. Hence, this is the correct option.
5. Caribou City is happy to receive the extra garbage because the fees it collects from Elk City have helped to address a shortfall in education funding. - This strengthens the premise and hence, strengthens the conclusion also. Hence, this is incorrect.

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