Beer, Taxes, McCain & Obama

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT ...
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 next 5 (the middle class) would pay what they could afford.
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 (Joe the rich plumber) 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 McCain the bartender 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 just $80. How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

Having just watched the presidential debate they said lets "Spread the Wealth Around" like Obama said. They realized that $20 divided by ten is $2.00. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the first five men would each end up being paid to drink beer.

The first five liked this idea and voted to get this free handout. They could still sleep off their hangover the next morning instead of going to work, because they will get paid to go out partying the next night.

But, McCain the bartender suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same percent. 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 now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $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 (only a 16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink 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 man, "But he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got!"

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

Yeah, like Obama said, "It’s not that we want to punish Joe the Plumber for his success, but we want to help the guys behind him"
"That’s right!"' yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded Joe the Plumber and beat him up. The next night Joe didn't show up for drin ks so the nine sat down and had 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, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our 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 anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

I DID NOT WRITE THIS