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A Tale of Friends and Tax
| Posted on 20 April, 2016 at 6:54 |
I really like this tale about Tax and whether it is more, or less,
fair to the poor or to the rich...... Suppose that every day, ten men go out for a beer and the bill for all ten
comes to £100... If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something 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 day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. "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
men would now cost just £80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes, so
the first four men were unaffected. They
would still drink for free, but what about the other six men? The paying customers? How could they divide the £20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realised 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 end up
being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's
bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the
tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he
suggested that each should now pay. And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100%
saving). The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% saving). The seventh now paid £5 instead of £7 (28% saving). The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% saving). The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% saving). The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% saving). Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
to drink for free but, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their
savings. "I only got a pound out of the £20 saving," 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 pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than
me!" "That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he
get £10 back, when I got only £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 new tax 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 their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all
of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and government ministers, is how
our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not
show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is
somewhat friendlier. Taken from an article by: David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics. For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible! |
Categories: Business
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12 Comments
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10:03 on 17 November, 2018
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