Look at blank (ii) first. The tax burden of most of the citizens comes from an “unvarying” tax, so the legislation mentioned earlier in the sentence must have had a minor effect on the middle class. (D) negligible matches perfectly. The road sign “although” indicates contrast, so the bill that produced “negligible” results must have been expected not only to have a significant effect, but a positive one. A prediction is “optimism” or “praise.” (B) acclaim works best. (C) hullabaloo and (A) commotion are tempting choices, but they do not have sufficiently strong positive connotations, particularly as the bill is described as having been “heralded.”