Question

Difficulty: MediumStatement and Assumptions

Read the following policy announcement carefully.

Statement:
"The municipal corporation has introduced an additional 5% property tax rebate for housing societies that successfully process 100% of their organic waste within their own premises."

Which of the following assumptions are logically implicit in the given statement? (Select all that apply)

  1. Financial incentives can effectively motivate housing societies to adopt and maintain in-house waste management systems.Answer
  2. Housing societies possess, or can acquire, the necessary spatial and technical capability to process all their organic waste internally.Answer
  3. C
    The total volume of waste collected by municipal garbage trucks will decrease significantly over the next year.
  4. D
    Organic waste decomposes naturally and is generally less harmful to the environment than non-biodegradable electronic waste.

Answer

The implicit assumptions are that financial incentives can motivate housing societies, and that these societies have the practical capability to process their organic waste internally.
The correct answers identify the foundational premises required for the policy to be logical and executable. The policy offers a reward to encourage a specific action. For this policy to be coherent, the municipal corporation must assume both that the financial reward is an effective motivator and that the housing societies are practically capable of performing the required action.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the core subject and intent of the statement.
The municipality is offering a tax rebate (a financial reward) to housing societies for taking on the responsibility of processing their own organic waste.
Understanding the core mechanism of the statement is necessary to deduce the author's underlying thought process.
2
Apply the negation test to the first valid premise.
If financial incentives do NOT motivate housing societies, the policy is useless. Therefore, the assumption that they do motivate is implicit.
An assumption is a necessary foundational premise; without it, the argument or policy collapses.
3
Apply the negation test to the second valid premise.
If housing societies completely lack the space or capability to process waste, offering a rebate for it is illogical. Therefore, the assumption of capability is implicit.
Policies inherently assume the feasibility of the actions they seek to encourage.
4
Evaluate the remaining options against the definition of an assumption.
One remaining option is an inference (a future outcome of the policy), and the other is an irrelevant general fact.
It is critical to separate unstated foundational premises from logical conclusions and external truths.

Key Concept

Statement and Assumptions
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