OT-Politics-Humor: Our tax system explained

[Dastook]

Simple tax system laid out in my kinda terms "BEER".......please note the
author.....a UGA prof.....gotta love the educational values being taught
from Athens!!!!!!!!!

Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics

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 inst ead 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 got"

"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 b ill,
they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, 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.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

[Ysabel Kid]

One of my favorites...

[El Chivo]

actually Robin Williams wrote this

[gundownunder]

Your system must be a bit different to ours.
Over here the poor dont pay tax (their all on welfare while employers cant find workers)
The rich dont pay tax (they know all the tax dodges, loopholes, and business deductions)
The average worker in the middle cops the lot ( pays all the taxes and cant claim any of the deductions, loopholes or dodges)

Example:
Australia is a beer drinking nation ( man - do we love our beer )
Some years ago one of the biggest breweries in the country paid tax on $57 because the rest of their multi million dollar profits could be written off on one thing or another, and their workers paid 25% income tax and probably managed to claim tax deductions on their safety boots.

Example 2:
Up the road, where the efluent types with their Mercedes and BMW cars are, if a street light goes out it gets fixed in a day or two. Down here where the workers and bludgers are (the bludgers are among the workers because thats where the public housing is) anyway down here a street light goes out on a busy intersection and it still takes them at least two weeks to fix it.

[spurgon]

gundownunder

It's the same here.

[Ysabel Kid]

gundownunder

It's the same here.

Not really. Despite the claims from the leftist, the "rich" pay by and far the largest share in taxes. The bottom 50% of wage earners effectively don't pay any taxes, whereas the top 10% cover over 50% of the tax revenue collected each year.

I'm not saying that the middle isn't taxed heavily. If you listen hard tomorrow you may hear me sobbing as I do my annual taxes. I'm also not saying that the rich don't take advantage of every opportunity to avoid taxes. I'm not rich and I do so - it would be foolish not to. Rather, it is just plain a myth that the "rich" don't pay their fair share.

The problem over here is part taxes, but the larger part is spending. If the government only spent on the objects outlined in the Constitution the problem of taxes and deficits would disappear instantly.

I'm not holding my breath.

I'm not a fan of business or corporate taxes. They don't pay them - their customers do. But the taxes reduce employment, reduce investment, and increase the cost of goods and services to everyone. Politicians love to blame "evil business" for everything and soak them as much as possible. In reality, once again, the common man carries the burden...