This is old but I still like it. -- -Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana. Stranger things have - -happened but none stranger than this. Does your driver's license say Organ -Donor?Black holes are where God divided by zero. Listen to me! We are all- -individuals! What if this weren't a hypothetical question? [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: Nicola Cataldo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fw: Taxes made simple Subject: Taxes made simple > The next time some misguided soul complains about the > "unfair" proposals by the Administration for a Tax > Reduction, consider this VERY simple way to understand > the tax laws... > > 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, 10 meals at > $10 = $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, and the tenth man -- the richest - would pay $59. > > 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 (in tax language - a tax cut). > > "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 $80.00. > > 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 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 paid nothing, the sixth > pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, > the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill > of $52 instead of his earlier $59. 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 who pointed to the tenth,"but 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, a little late, what was very important. > They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! > Imagine that! > > And that, boys and girls, journalists and college > instructors, is how the tax system works. The people > who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a > tax reduction, but still end up paying most of the bill. > > T. Davies > Professor of Accounting &Chair, > Division of Accounting and Business Law > The University of South Dakota School of Business > 414 E. Clark Street > Vermillion, SD 57069 To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body "unsubscribe man-bytes-dog" (the subject is ignored).
