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.
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 in proportion to what they paid, and he proceeded to work out
the amounts each should pay.
And so now the fifth man paid nothing (instead of $1), the sixth pitched
in $2 (instead of $3), the seventh paid $5 (instead of $7), the eighth
paid $9 (instead of $12), the ninth paid $12 (instead of $18), 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
also. 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 the tenth man 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.
==================
On another note: Why are the dems complaining about tax cuts and the budget deficit? It hasn't really even taken effect yet, and it is a small percentage of the total budget.
On the other hands, the fed budget has INCREASED 22% over the last two years. Nobody (democrat or republican) wants to talk about this).
I read an editorial today where today's compassionate conservative is nothing other than yesterday's liberal.
