Day22 While trucking companies that deliver goods pay only a portion of highway maintenance costs and no property tax on the highways they use

The following appeared as part of an editorial in an industry newsletter：

“While trucking companies that deliver goods pay only a portion of highway maintenance costs and no property tax on the highways they use，railways spend billions per year maintaining and upgrading their facilities.The government should lower the railroad companies’property taxes，since sending goods by rail is clearly a more appropriate mode of ground transportation than highway shipping.For one thing，trains consume only a third of the fuel a truck would use to carry the same load，making them a more cost-effective and environmentally sound mode of transport.Furthermore，since rail lines already exist，increases in rail traf？c would not require building new lines at the expense of taxpaying citizens.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument.In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument.For example，you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion.You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument，what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound，and what，if anything，would help you better evaluate its conclusion.

文勇五问：

（1）本题中，事实是什么？结论是什么？“While trucking companies that deliver goods pay only a portion of highway maintenance costs and no property tax on the highways they use，railways spend billions per year maintaining and upgrading their facilities.”是事实，“The government should lower the railroad companies’property taxes.”是结论，值得反驳吗？文本中最后的两句话“For one thing，trains consume only a third of the fuel a truck would use to carry the same load，making them a more cost-effective and environmentally sound mode of transport.Furthermore，since rail lines already exist，increases in rail traf？c would not requirebuilding new lines at the expense of taxpaying citizens.”才应该是反驳的关键。

（2）火车线路已经有了，就意味着不需要再建新的线路吗？一条线路是否有它的容纳总量？目前的线路覆盖了所有地区了吗？

（3）燃料消耗量是影响成本效益的唯一因素吗？能否单凭燃料消耗更少就简单地认为火车更“cost-effective”呢？你能想到其他影响因素吗？例如机械成本。燃料消耗得更少是否一定代表给环境造成的污染更小呢？燃料只有一种吗？不同的燃料，排放出的污染物一样吗？等量吗？火车和汽车所用的燃料是同一种类的吗？

（4）运输需要考虑的要素除了成本大小和环境影响外，还有哪些？你能罗列一到两项吗？例如：路途远近，货物特性。在这些方面，铁路运输一定比公路运输更加有优势吗？

（5）即使铁路运输比公路运输有优势，政府就一定需要降低对铁路公司的税收吗？有没有可能对铁路公司的税收已经很低了？有没有可能铁路公司现在的税率相对其收入而言是科学且合理的？

写一写，练一练