found this while surfing (while at work
)
Tax The Rich!
Democratic Tax the Rich System
Democrats exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!", and it
is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean?
Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, we
hope the following will help. "Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In
Economics" by David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor
of Economics; 536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia. This is how
the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully.
Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that
every day, ten men go out for dinner. 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 $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided 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 are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going
to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."
So, now dinner for the ten only cost $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 eat
for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers?
How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone
would get his 'fair share'?
The six men 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 eat their meal.
So, the restaurant 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 paid $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 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 $2? 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 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 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 at the table
anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.
Thanks David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Economics, U
of Georgia