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Wednesday, May 15, 2002
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A Modern Fable—Aesop Would’ve Been Proud
Submitted by Eric Barnes, Director’s Circle Member
The following article appeared in the February 23, 2002 issue of the Lakeshore News-Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
Ron Adams, a local financial advisor who writes a regular column in the paper, wrote it. Ron is sometimes a little irreverent and ruffles many conservative feathers in town, but he is often entertaining and usually gets straight to the heart of the issue. As written by Ron:
Tax Cuts for the "Rich"
I was having lunch at PJ's with one of my favorite clients last week, and the conversation turned to the Campbell 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 I, and that's not fair."
"But the rich pay more in the first place," I argued, "so it stands to reason that they'd get more money back." I could tell that my 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 Canada. Nothing could be further from the truth. So, let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.
Suppose that every day 10 men go to PJ's for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If it were 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 10 men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement until 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." Now dinner for 10 costs only $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 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. Here's what he came up with . . .
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 $59. Outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
"I only got a dollar out the $20," declared the sixth man. Pointing to the tenth, he said, "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 and girls and college instructors, is how Canada'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 anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Switzerland and the Caribbean.
Attribution: I got the idea for this allegory from an article in The Taxpayer reprinting an article in The Chicago Tribune. It has been rewritten "Mall Arkey" style. Copyright 2000, Mall Arkey Investments, All rights reserved.
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9:56:20 PM 
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Sophocles. "One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love."
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11:08:30 AM
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Philip Adams. "It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever."
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11:07:57 AM
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Thomas A. Edison. "Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something."
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11:02:20 AM
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Colette. "There are days when solitude, for someone my age, is a heady wine that intoxicates you with freedom, others when it is a bitter tonic, and still others when it is a poison that makes you beat your head against the wall."
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10:38:43 AM
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Karen Sunde. "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven."
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10:37:58 AM
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An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.
"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" A girl in the line said to the little fella. Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head.
His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles, she said, whiletracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!"
The boy looked up, "Really?"
"Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."
The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."
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10:13:03 AM
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Young Son: "I heard that in some parts of Africa they don't know their spouse until they get married. Is it true, Dad?"
Dad: "That happens in every country, son."
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10:01:59 AM
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Working toward a cure for diabetes. Transplants of insulin-producing cells are allowing a handful of people with Type I diabetes to quit taking insulin shots. Many believe these experiments will lead to the first use of stem cells to cure a disease.
[Very exciting developments here in assisting the body in regeneration.]
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9:56:43 AM
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© Copyright
2002
Rick@Leaders.net.
Last update:
11/18/2002; 10:47:48 PM.
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