Two Certainties: Death and Taxes
It’s said that there are two certainties in life: Death and Taxes. However, in the end, taxes win out. Even after you die, you still have to pay taxes on your estate that is left.
One of our clients at work is Paragon Wealth Management, owned by Dave Young. He’s a financial advisor and investor with a very smart head on his shoulders. His clients, and his own portfolio, consistently outperform competitors in the return he generates on investments.
On his blog he did a short write up on taxes, and who pays them. He talks about how it seems that everyone complains about how it’s only the rich that get tax breaks and refunds, while everyone else still ends up paying. He shared this story, which he quoted from Growth Stock Outlook.
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 10 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 10 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 of 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!
So, as the election for President is on it’s round-up, just remember that all the propaganda about tax cuts only benefit the rich… well, it’s true. They seem to be the only ones paying the taxes.
