SAT OwlQuestion bank / Cross-Text Connections
Text 1: Economist Daniel Reyes argues that cities should stop offering tax breaks to attract large companies. Such deals, he contends, rarely create as many jobs as promised, and the jobs that do appear often go to workers who move in from elsewhere rather than to people already living in the area.
Text 2: When the city of Port Ellis gave a tax break to an electronics manufacturer in 2012, officials promised 2,000 new jobs. A decade later, the plant employed about 1,400 people, roughly three-quarters of whom had lived in the region before the plant opened. Local business owners credit the plant with reviving the surrounding neighborhood.
Based on the texts, how would Reyes most likely respond to the outcome described in Text 2?
He would see it as fully consistent with his argument, since the plant created fewer jobs than promised and most went to newcomers.
He would see it as partly consistent with his argument, since the plant fell short of the promised jobs but most of the jobs went to existing residents.
He would see it as contradicting his argument, since the plant created more jobs than officials had promised.
He would argue that the business owners' views prove that tax breaks always benefit cities.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Reyes makes two claims: deals fall short on jobs, and the jobs go to newcomers. Port Ellis fits the first (1,400 jobs instead of 2,000) but not the second (about three-quarters of workers were existing residents). So the case only partly supports him, choice B.
Choice A is the trap for readers who check only the first claim. The workers were mostly existing residents, which doesn't fit Reyes's second claim.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. About three-quarters of the workers already lived in the region, so most jobs didn't go to newcomers.
- C. The plant employed about 1,400 people, fewer than the 2,000 promised.
- D. Reyes opposes tax breaks, and one city's experience couldn't show they always help.
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