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Tax policy in terms of beer

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2009-07-10          163947

My brother emailed this to me and it seemed worthy of sharing.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for 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. '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 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 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 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 roughly the same amount, and he proceeded 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 $5 instead 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 tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink 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 he got ten times more than I! '

'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man.

'Why should 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 get anything 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 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 college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes 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.


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Tax policy in terms of beer

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2009-07-10          163952

Sadly Ken not many Congressmen or Senators and for certainly the current adminstration will see that here. Wonder if even those on the agri committees visit such sites? TP ought to be required reading...what a great idea.

As typing this was Katy Kuric (spelling??) of CBS news were talking about how Obama's ratings is falling in Ohio as swing state and the year 2010 concerns them. But oh the damage already done by some from both parties and even those who claim to be of neither party. ....

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Tax policy in terms of beer

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2009-07-13          164005

Quote:
Originally Posted by kthompson | view 163952
Sadly Ken not many Congressmen or Senators and for certainly the current adminstration will see that here.


That and even if they saw it I doubt they'd read it, they seem more like a champagne and expensive whiskey crowd that wouldn't be too interested in anything to do with beer, not even a story. LOL

Best of luck. ....

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Tax policy in terms of beer

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2009-07-13          164018

Murf, not unless it would raise taxes. ....

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Tax policy in terms of beer

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hardwood
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 3583 iowa
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2009-07-13          164021

We do have a few well meaning people in the sebnate and Congress, the rest just seem to be along for the ride.
It is sad that the greed for power outweighs their desire to do something good for the country by some in both parties.
The beer thing reminds me of a couple years ago when dairy farmers were getting paid a fair price for their milk the headline story on the six o'clock news was a milk price protest. They showed a bunch uninformed people in front of a supermarket waving signs with an uninformed teeny bopper type reporter interviewing some of them. I wanted to but didn't call the TV station to see if they ever featured a protest of the high cost of beer. ....

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