📚 Learning Guide
Tax Burden and Consumer Behavior
hard

If the demand for good X is highly elastic and a tax is imposed, what is the primary reason that consumers will bear a smaller portion of the tax burden compared to producers?

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Choose the Best Answer

A

Consumers can easily switch to substitutes, reducing their demand for good X.

B

Producers have no ability to adjust their prices in response to tax.

C

Tax incidence is always equally shared between consumers and producers regardless of elasticity.

D

The government absorbs the tax burden when demand is elastic.

Understanding the Answer

Let's break down why this is correct

Answer

When the demand for good X is highly elastic, it means that consumers are very sensitive to price changes. If a tax is added to the price of good X, consumers will likely reduce their purchases significantly because they can easily switch to other products or find alternatives. As a result, producers must absorb a larger portion of the tax to keep prices competitive and maintain sales. For example, if a tax raises the price of a popular snack, consumers might choose to buy a different snack that is cheaper instead. Therefore, because consumers can easily change their buying habits, they end up bearing a smaller share of the tax burden.

Detailed Explanation

When demand is highly elastic, consumers can easily find other similar products. Other options are incorrect because This suggests producers can't change prices, which isn't true; This idea is a misconception.

Key Concepts

Tax Incidence
Elasticity of Demand
Market Behavior
Topic

Tax Burden and Consumer Behavior

Difficulty

hard level question

Cognitive Level

understand

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