A little comic relief....sort of.
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Over lunch two friends were discussing the government’s recent round of tax
cuts: “I’m opposed to those tax cuts,” the retired college instructor declared,
“because they benefit the rich. The rich get much more money back than ordinary
taxpayers like you and me and that’s not fair.”
“But the rich pay more in the first place,” the businessman argued, “so it
stands to reason that they’d get more money back.” He could tell that his friend
was unimpressed by this meager argument. Even college instructors are a prisoner
of the myth that the “rich” somehow get a free ride in America. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Let’s put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day ten men go to a restaurant for dinner. The bill for all
ten comes to $100. If it was paid the way we pay our taxes, the first four men
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.
The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with
the arrangement until the owner threw them a curve.
“Since you’re all such good customers, he said, I’m going to reduce the cost of
your daily meal by $20.” Now, dinner for the 10 only costs $80. The first four
are unaffected; they still eat for free. Can you figure out how to divvy up the
$20 savings among the remaining six so that everyone gets his fair share? The
men realize that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33, but if they subtract that from
everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being paid
to eat their meal. The restaurant owner proceeded to work out the amounts each
should pay under the same assumptions: Now the fifth man also paid nothing, the
sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, and the ninth paid
$12 leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of $59.
Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. “I only got a
dollar out the $20,” complained the sixth man, pointing to the tenth, “and he
got $7!”
“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s
unfair that he got seven times more than me!”
“That’s true,” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $7 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 he 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 were $52 short!
And that, boys, girls, and college instructors, is how America’s 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 any more. After all, there are lots of good restaurants
in Switzerland and the Caribbean.
