A Taxing Story

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.  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.  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.

 "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.  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.  He 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 something  important.  They were $52 short!

 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.  Tax them too much, attack  them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at  the table anymore.