Identify Any Fallacies in the Following Passage Either by Naming

question 185

Short Answer

Identify any fallacies in the following passage either by naming them or, where they seem not to conform to any of the patterns described in the text, by giving a brief explanation of why the fallacious reasoning is irrelevant to the point at issue.
"Re: 'New York taxes soak the poor.' The article stated that a family of four with an income of $11,000 pays over 14 percent of its income on state taxes. So what? The only way that could be done is if they spent half their income on high tax items such as liquor and cigarettes and movies. I, for one, won't shed any tears."
-From a letter to the editor

---

Definitions:

Coase Theorem

A principle suggesting that under certain conditions, when externalities are present, parties can negotiate agreements to allocate resources efficiently without government intervention, as long as property rights are clearly defined and transaction costs are low.

Externalities

Costs or benefits that affect parties who did not choose to incur those costs or benefits, often leading to market inefficiencies.

MSB

Marginal Social Benefit, which refers to the additional benefit society gains from consuming one more unit of a good or service.

MSC

MSC stands for Marginal Social Cost, which is the total cost to society of producing an additional unit of a good or service, including both private and external costs.