Urban planner: When a city loses population due to migration, property taxes in that city tend to rise. This is because there are then fewer residents paying to maintain an infrastructure that was designed to support more people. Rising property taxes, in turn, drive more residents away, compounding the problem. Since the city of Stonebridge is starting to lose population, the city government should therefore refrain from raising property taxes.Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the urban planner's argument?(A) If Stonebridge does not raise taxes on its residents to maintain its infrastructure, the city will become much less attractive to live in as that infrastructure decays.(B) Stonebridge at present benefits from grants provided by the national government to help maintain certain parts of its infrastructure.(C) If there is a small increase in property taxes in Stonebridge and a slightly larger proportion of total revenue than at present is allocated to infrastructure maintenance, the funding will be adequate for that purpose.(D) Demographers project that the population of a region that includes Stonebridge will start to increase substantially within the next several years.(E) The property taxes in Stonebridge are significantly lower than those in many larger cities.

Respuesta :

Answer: the correct answer is (A) If Stonebridge does not raise taxes on its residents to maintain its infrastructure, the city will become much less attractive to live in as that infrastructure decays.

Explanation:

Situation: When a city loses population due to migration, fewer residents remain to pay to maintain the city's infrastructure, so property taxes tend to rise. These property taxes drive even more residents away. The city of Stonebridge is starting to lose population, so Stonebridge should not raise property taxes.

Reasoning: What would weaken the idea that the city should refrain from raising property taxes? That the city would decay because it wouldn't have money to maintain the infrastructure so A is correct.