There's a blinding error with this.
The last person left in the country won't have any money to pay for the lights
to be turned on so there won't be any lights to turn off. That persons
benefactors will have long since fled the country.
Richard Griffiths
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Sent with Instant Email from T-Mobile

-----Original Message-----
From: "steven.peers" <nomoretalk@...>

Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:40:15
To: <hertfordshiretpa@...>
Subject: [hertfordshiretpa] How the tax system works....or errr doesn't work


Hello to all, I thought the following might amuse and inform.

Steven

How the Tax System works

"Suppose that every day, ten men go out for a 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 pub every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the publican 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 £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 could they divide the £20 windfall so
that everyone would get his `fair share'?

They realised that £20 divided by six is £3.33. But if they subtracted that from
everyone's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being
paid to drink his beer. So, the publican 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 man now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% savings).

The seventh now paid £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 pub, the men began to compare their
savings.

"I only got a pound out of the £20", declared the sixth man. He pointed to the
tenth man, "but he got £10!"

"Yes, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a pound, too. It's
unfair that he got ten times more than I did"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 back when I only
got £2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything
at all. This 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 the time came 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, Ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our
tax system works.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the greatest benefit from a tax
reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they may not
show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking abroad where the atmosphere
is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.

Professor of Economics


For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.


Will the last Englishman to leave the country, please turn out the lights,
because there will be no one left, willing to pay the bill.




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