Taxation for dummies

[Kev Stephenson]

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 ball.

 

"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 men would 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 could 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 a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

 

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% saving).

 

The sixth now paid £2 instead of £3 (33% saving).

 

The seventh now paid £5 instead of £7 (28% saving).

 

The eighth now paid £9 instead of £12 (25% saving).

 

The ninth now paid £14 instead of £18 (22% saving).

 

The tenth now paid £49 instead of £59 (16% saving).

 

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings.

 

"I only got a pound out of the £20 saving," 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 pound too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

 

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get £10 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. This new 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 their 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 government ministers, is how our tax system works.

 

The people who already pay the highest taxes will naturally 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.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I take it you have bought new batteries for your calculator or just opened the curtains to make your solar powered one work

[Frankie Lawrence]

Have you drank ten pints before posting this?

[BenR]

What should have happened is that they were all taxed once with a huge bill according to their income and then there was no other taxes on anything because the one great big income tax contained all the little taxes from before such as tax on fuel, beer and fags was in one bill dependant on income.

 

That way it was fair on everyone.. but the rich people with the power didnt like that...

[Stephen Blair]

that is one of the best things i have ever read, i certainly am a dummy:sneaky2:

[skyhuck]

What should have happened is that they were all taxed once with a huge bill according to their income and then there was no other taxes on anything because the one great big income tax contained all the little taxes from before such as tax on fuel, beer and fags was in one bill dependant on income.

 

That way it was fair on everyone.. but the rich people with the power didnt like that...

 

Thats not fair.

 

I would put all tax on purchases, that we have CHOICE we can chose to buy the item and pay the tax, or not.

[T14EES T14UNK]

Thats not fair.

 

I would put all tax on purchases, that we have CHOICE we can chose to buy the item and pay the tax, or not.

 

Absolutely. VAT is very fair way of taxing. Nd it generates a lot of revenue. And it's not like they don't need it really is it.

[Dean Lofthouse]

I would do away with road tax completely and put it on fuel, that way those that use it pay for it.

 

A new amazon is now £900 road tax. The Amazon could only be used for 5000 miles per year as mine was, whereas some rep in a micra could do 80,000 mile per year and pay naff all road tax

 

Totally unfair system

[Dean Lofthouse]

I would also put 50% tax on canabis, that should fill the defecit within 12 month

[Mozza]

Micra would probably still win on emmissions Dean, Even with the mileage difference