Posted on 10/29/2008 6:43:20 AM PDT by do the dhue
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer, and the bill for all tencomes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would gosomething like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every dayand seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threwthem a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. 'Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so thefirst four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But whatabout the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the$20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each endup being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and heproceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now pay $5instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25%savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings). The tenthnow paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued todrink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10! '' Yeah, that's right,'exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that hegot ten times more than I! '' That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Whyshould he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!''Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't getanything at all. The system exploits the poor! 'The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beerswithout him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discoveredsomething important. They didn't have enough money between all of them foreven half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our taxsystem works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit froma tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and theyjust may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseaswhere the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
*David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., Professor of Economics University of Georgia -
Applies to innies too
Suppose I only wanted one tencome?
lol
Shorter version:
3 guys pitch in for a $10 pizza
Frank pays $5, Joe and John pay $2.50 each.
Pizza guy says the pizza cost only $8 and wants to refund the guys $2
Republicans say Frank should get $1 and Joe and John get .50cents each
Democrats say Ralph gets the $2
You can’t break up the set.
Who the heck is Ralph and is he legal?
Yeh, makes sense when ya relate it to sumpthin’ sensible—like beer!
;)
Semper Fidelis
Dick
~~~~~
Good one. Makes me wish I thought of that!! :-)
Using beer as an example, helps us ALL understand!
He lost me at the spigot.
Does me good just looking at her.
YUM! I like BEER!
Doctors should do the same. As soon as they hit $250k they should go on sebatical for the remainder of the year.
And wouldn't it be funny if pro athletes did the same? Atlas Shrugged anyone?
Unfortunately this story takes 2 minutes to read and cannot be compressed into a 7 second sound bite. That puts it beyond the attention span of the average American voter. It also gives a liberal listening to the story 2 minutes to interrupt and change the subject.
Atlas Drinks..............
BEER PING LIST! evets...
LOL
Hey, my Sister understood it. There is hope!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.