▶ Your Answer : In this set of materials, both the reading passage and lecture deal with several benefits from increasing cigarettes‘ tax. The lecturer argues that levying a higher tax on tobacco products does more harm than good. This counters the writer‘s arguments that there are many advantages by increasing cigarettes‘ tax. First of all, according to the lecturer, the rate of young smokers would not be decreased. This is because if cigarette prices are up, black markets might more appear. As a result, purchasing cigarette is more likely to easy since it would be possible to buy cigarettes without checking ID. This counters the writer’s assertion that increasing the tax on cigarettes can help for young people to prevent from starting to smoke. Next, the lecturer goes on to say that a higher tax will not benefit the environment. This is due to the fact that the total amount of profits from cigarette sales would be declined. Thus, the government might not put much money on initiating new policies for the environment. This contradicts the writer’s claim that a raising tax can aid to improve the environmental problems by converting many farmlands into a lot of forests. Finally, the lecturer maintains that the poverty would not be alleviate by increasing cigarette tax. Since many jobs related with tobacco will be vanished, people are more likely to lose their jobs, which means the poverty problem will be even severe, not better. This challenges the writer’s viewpoint that more social welfare programs for the poor could be practiced through the raising revenue by a cigarette tax increase. |