Explanation
The passage presents an argument about a tax bill that provides incentives for businesses to move to a certain area and hire a significant number of employees. It is stated that critics argue the bill reduces tax revenues, yet the bill has already resulted in job creation, as evidenced by Plastonica opening a factory that hired 75 employees. We are asked to identify an assumption this argument relies on.
A. The argument does not rely on the assumption that Plastonica would not have opened a factory at all; it only states that the company opened a factory and hired employees in the area, which suggests job creation.
B. (Correct Response) The argument's point that the tax bill has created jobs hinges on the assumption that the incentives were the reason Plastonica opened the factory in that area. If Plastonica would have opened the factory in the area regardless of the incentives, then the tax bill cannot be credited for creating those jobs.
C. The argument does not depend on what most critics claim about the future potential of the tax bill to create jobs.
D. While this assumption is related, the argument's conclusion is about the effectiveness of the tax bill in creating jobs, not necessarily about where Plastonica would have opened the factory otherwise.
E. The argument acknowledges the critics' view that the tax bill reduces tax revenues but does not suggest that critics believe no jobs were created.
The assumption that the argument's reasoning most depends on is option B. This assumption is necessary for the argument to effectively counter the critics' claim by attributing the job creation directly to the incentives from the tax bill.