Bar Stool Economics
Since most of us survived the annual trauma of tax day last week, it might be of interest to shine a different light on our wonderful progressive Federal tax system. As Common Sense Politics, we have been bothered for a very long time by the class-warfare as played by politicians, primarily liberals, also known as Democrats. We all have heard the cries that the rich are getting richer and they do not pay their fair share of taxes. Well, somebody has put this in a more practical and understandable perspective, called ‘Bar Stool Economics’! Although its origins aren’t absolute, its content hasn’t been debunked. It goes like this:
Every day, ten men go out to drink beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. Paying the bill as we pay our taxes, they agreed to pay as follows:
The first four men (the poorest) pay nothing,
The fifth man pays $1,
The sixth man pays $3,
The seventh man pays $7,
The eighth man pays $12,
The ninth man pays $18,
And the tenth man (the richest) pays $59.
That’s what these guys decided to do and they came into the bar every day and drank $100 worth of beer and seemed quite happy with the arrangement. Until the day when the bar owner said to them: “You have been such steady customers, I am going to reduce the daily bill to $80 for the beer you drink.”
The group decided to continue to pay the bill on the same percentage basis as before, this resulted in the following:
The first four men still drank beer for free as before,
The fifth man now also paid nothing,
The sixth man paid $2 instead of $3,
The seventh man now paid $5 instead of $7,
The eighth man now paid $9 instead of $12,
The ninth man now paid $14 instead of $18
And the tenth man paid $49 instead of $59.
Everybody now paid less for their beers and the first four guys still paid nothing as before. When they left the bar, they compared their saving and the sixth man said ”I only got one dollar out of the $20 while he (the tenth man) got $10 back, that’s not fair” and so they beat him up!
The next day, the tenth man did not show up and when it came to paying the bill, they discovered something important and realized they did not even have enough money for half the bill.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls is how our tax system works. The people who pay the most in taxes get the most benefits 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 beer overseas where the atmosphere is friendlier.
For those of you who understand this, no explanation is needed!
For those of you who do not understand, no explanation is possible!
Why not make this simple lesson part of the education curriculum in America so that our kids would not become victims to class-warfare in the future and grow up hating the rich? We can always hope!