jag
05-21-2003, 09:01 AM
I was having lunch with a friend last week and the conversation turned to the governments recent round of tax cuts.
"I'm opposed to those tax cuts," the retired college professor declared, "because they benefit the rich. The rich get much more money back than ordinary taxpayers like you and me, and thats not fair."
"But the irch pay more in the first place," I argued, "So it stands to reason that they'd get more money back."
I could tell that my friend was unimpressed by this meager argument. Even college professors are prisoners of the myth that the "rich" somehow get a free ride. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day 10 men go to dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
The 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant everyday and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Now dinner for the 10 men only costs $80.
The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free.
The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $33.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up bieng paid to eat their meal.
The restaurnat owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.
Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man pointing to the tenth,"and he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"
"Thats true,"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I only got $2? The wealthy get all the breaks."
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. This system exploits the poor."
The nine men surronded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something very important - they were $52 short.
_____________________________
Got this in an e-mail and thought it was funny. http://freeconservatives.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
"I'm opposed to those tax cuts," the retired college professor declared, "because they benefit the rich. The rich get much more money back than ordinary taxpayers like you and me, and thats not fair."
"But the irch pay more in the first place," I argued, "So it stands to reason that they'd get more money back."
I could tell that my friend was unimpressed by this meager argument. Even college professors are prisoners of the myth that the "rich" somehow get a free ride. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day 10 men go to dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
The 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant everyday and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve.
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." Now dinner for the 10 men only costs $80.
The first four are unaffected. They still eat for free.
The men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $33.33, but if they subtract that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up bieng paid to eat their meal.
The restaurnat owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.
Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man pointing to the tenth,"and he got $7!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!"
"Thats true,"shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I only got $2? The wealthy get all the breaks."
"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. This system exploits the poor."
The nine men surronded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something very important - they were $52 short.
_____________________________
Got this in an e-mail and thought it was funny. http://freeconservatives.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif