Required reading for whoever wins the Dem nomination

[Von Tonner]

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

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 would 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 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 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!"

"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 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 anymore. In fact, they might start drinking
overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

FOR THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND, NO EXPLANATION IS NEEDED.

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND, NO EXPLANATION WOULD EVER BE POSSIBLE!!

[Sailor Steve]

Very well put!

[Ishmael]

You forgot the part where the tenth man comes back, buys the bar and moves it to China. Now the tenth man gets his beer for ten cents and can kill the bartender if he wants to. Of course, the ten-cent beer has a few extra ingrediants not listed like lead and anti-freeze because that's what you have to do to make a ten-cent beer.

Oh, did I mention that the first nine guys built the bar originally?

[Von Tonner]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

Oh, did I mention that the first nine guys built the bar originally?

No you didn't, but now that you do. The tenth man put up the capital at his own risk to build the bar and employed the 9 guys in doing so and paid company tax on the profits the bar made. Of course these profits went up in smoke when the above tale unfolded and in order to protect his investment he moved the bar to China.

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by Von Tonner

No you didn't, but now that you do. The tenth man put up the capital at his own risk to build the bar and employed the 9 guys in doing so and paid company tax on the profits the bar made. Of course these profits went up in smoke when the above tale unfolded and in order to protect his investment he moved the bar to China.

Silly me. I thought the first nine guys chipped in their own money to build the bar as well as providing their own labor gratis as an effort to build the beer-drinking infrastructure.

[August]

You also forgot to mention that the 10th man, now identified as the bar owner was eventually executed by the Chinese government when news of his lead and anti-freeze beer additives became public knowledge.

[Ishmael]

Originally Posted by August

You also forgot to mention that the 10th man, now identified as the bar owner was eventually executed by the Chinese government when news of his lead and anti-freeze beer additives became public knowledge.

True. But not before they harvested his organs for transplant while he was still alive.

[August]

Originally Posted by Ishmael

True. But not before they harvested his organs for transplant while he was still alive.

There you go. Want to stop the shipment of jobs overseas? Require owners and directors to live in the same city as their factories and be subject to the same laws as their workers.

That bar would be rebuilt on the old location in about 10 seconds.