Suppose that once a week, 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.
And the tenth man (the richest) would pay £59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your weekly 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 realized that £20 divided by six is £3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybody's share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage. They decided 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 (a100% saving).
The sixth man now paid £2 instead of £3 (a 33% saving).
The seventh man now paid £5 instead of £7 (a 28% saving).
The eighth man now paid £9 instead of £12 (a 25% saving).
The ninth man now paid £14 instead of £18 (a 22% saving).
And the tenth man now paid £49 instead of £59 (a 16% saving).
Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four continuing to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got £1 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 £1 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 only got £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 week 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 to pay 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 might 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.
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible
The Tax System Explained in Beer!!
-
Good one
Lot's of Norwegian politician's who never will understad this one
-
Superb and interesting post (only if everyone understood it) living in England I am always disappointed at why there is a tendency to resent success rather than promote and encourage it.
-
love it! Thanks for sharing!
It's interesting, to me, to learn that it seems as if the english have the same hatred and intolerance towards high-income people as do the germans.. and here I thought only us would be that intolerant. -
Similar to the german relations.
I know this as for a restaurant´s visit.That´s a perfect description to Govt´s atent to get OPM (other peoples money)- similar to examples in history.
We´ll need a modern Robin H... sooner as we belive in
Max
-
A modern Robin Hood sounds a bit like "take from the rich and sell to the poor".
...Mike, SCNR
-
Check the story - he stole Prince John´s Taxes off the arms of Nottinghamshire´s sheriff down in Sherwood Forrest.
First stories telling the legend report there is none sight out he gave a penny to poor men.
Its a good will for an notorious outlaw.Max
-
I obviously have watched too many movies
...Mike
-
Zitat von fuzzifikation;82952
love it! Thanks for sharing!
It's interesting, to me, to learn that it seems as if the english have the same hatred and intolerance towards high-income people as do the germans.. and here I thought only us would be that intolerant.I actually don't mind people who earn a high income, except for bankers and stockbrokers as they are not playing with their OWN money. What I detest is people with no money who sponge off the state for everthing and then moan and think that breeding is a good way of getting an income RATHER THAN GETTING A JOB AND AN INCOME and having to make real world decisions....... and before you all scream at me .......I include my own daughter in that statement! Rant over.. it winds me up!
-
Forgive me if I have got this wrong, but it seems the article has been misunderstood.
This has nothing to do with a dislike of the wealthy. As I see it, it is implying that the less well off do not know when they ARE well off and if we keep expecting the wealthy to pay for everything the time will come when they say "enough is enough" and the less well off will have even less.
-
There´s a simple sentence in an old book:
"You have to eat your bread in your owns face sweat" meaning working self for you own income
and everybody have had enough to eat.Max
Post scriptum: The name of the old book is "Holy Bible"... -
I would agree with Rob's sentiments, however I do not think you can blame the individuals but more so the system.
As a country we should encourage success, ambition and drive, however I think we tend to do the opposite and tend to put the boot into the wealthy (who in most cases have worked hard to get where they are).
In other parts of the world it tends to be the opposite.
With regards to the wealthy, as the original post states a lot of the money gets filtered down the food chain.
Is this thread getting a bit too political?
-
Political?
Zitat von Deep;83053
Is this thread getting a bit too political?Its an off topic frame and you are a free man - why should you cover your mindfulness?
I´m very interested in how other people in other countries are thinking ´bout problems comin´over the world in the future.
Unfiltered discussing between friends, all over every borderlines, is better than throwing explosives on each others roof ´cause we are all children of only one world.So feel free and let us know your appreciated minds
Max
-
the same story exists in Norway, but there is a few minor changes.
There are still 10 men, however they all meet daily at a restaurant and have dinner.
The rest is the same except for the fact that the end is shorter and the punchline is short and simple.
the end is like this.
"in rage due to the rich guy getting the largest part of the discount the remaining 9 beat up the tenth man.
Next day he did not show up, and when the bill came they discovered something even more important, they where £59 short."Everytime people complain about rich people not paying enough tax, I bring out this story.
Even if the rich may pay a lower percentage of tax than the rest of the people, in real money those few people actually contribute to the largest sum of money.In Norway most millionaires are disliked, and everytime they have done something financial, found a loophole or something normal people bitch and complain.
A few weeks back the newspaper had a an article about this young girl who had applied for a government student loan.... not uncommon for any young person in Norway taking higher education.... only problem was that this girl was good for £30 million.... people was in outrage, this girl had no business applying for such a loan, she could pay her own education ect.
This is a public service open to anyone, and she has the right just like any other to apply for a loan.
Yes she may be good for £30 million, but that does not mean she has the money available.For the love of god wake up and smell the coffee.
These people not only tax in one year what most of these sorry people make in a lifetime, but they also provide people with jobs, pay business tax ect ect.A few have actually left the Country and taken their business with them, and some numbnuts have the nerve to say "good riddance" we don't need that greedy son of a bitch.
Such stupid, short sighted people really annoy me.
Jetzt mitmachen!
Sie haben noch kein Benutzerkonto auf unserer Seite? Registrieren Sie sich kostenlos und nehmen Sie an unserer Community teil!
