Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

How taxes work - 10 Men Go To Dinner.


Recommended Posts

  • Moderators

I may have posted this in the past - but due to the number of people willing to consider socialism:

How taxes work - 10 Men Go To Dinner.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

10 MEN GO TO DINNER.

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing like they do now with the present income tax structure.

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 of the bill.

So that is what the ten men decide to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you all are such good customers I am going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20". Dinner for the 10 men now costs just $80...

The group still wanted to pay the bill the same way that they paid their taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men -- the Paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everybody 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 and sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal...

So, the restaurant owner suggested it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill roughly the same amount; and proceeded to work out the amounts each man would pay.

The fifth, like the first four now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth man now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings)

The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings)

The eight man now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings)

The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings)

The tenth man now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings)

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat 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 me!?"

"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 man and beat him up...

The next night the Tenth man did not 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 important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half the bill!

And that Boys & 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 might not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier?

 

 

With the above scenario, determined to still go out it would have to be adjusted similar to this:
  Determined not to do without their freebies and causing the other 5 to feel guilty for entertaining the idea that life is not free the 4 still pay $0 for a $10 meal.

#5 pays $2.44 instead of $1
$6 pays $7.31 instead of $3
#7 pays $17.07 instead of $7
#8 pays $29.27 instead of $12
$9 pays $43.91 instead of $18

Total $100 just as before -- but wait!
#10 left, he didn't consume a $10 meal, we have extra money -- should we divide it amongst those who paid extra for their meal?

No, that is just greed on the part of the 5, give each of the 4 who got free meals $2.50 each and don't make them buss tables and earn it -- now THAT'S fair!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...