Not a Bible parable, obviously, but one of the best analogies I’ve ever seen to explain the downfall of Socialist taxation policies.

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. ‘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. 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 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 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 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!’ ‘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 drinks 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. [Found on the Internet, here’s what Snopes has to say about the authorship. Regardless of who wrote it, it explains the concepts very well.]

The tenth man represents the top 10% of income earners.

From 1993 to 2005 the total income tax share (as a percentage) paid by the “tenth man” has ranged from 59% in 1993 to over 70% in 2005:

tax year % paid by “Tenth Man” 1993 59.24 1994 59.45 1995 60.75 1996 62.51 1997 63.20 1998 65.04 1999 66.45 2000 67.33 2001 64.89 2002 65.73 2003 65.84 2004 68.19 2005 70.30 Source: IRS (archived here)

The Bush tax cuts, which the MSM (Marxist Socialist Media) called “tax cuts for the rich”, actually INCREASED the percentage of the total income tax share paid by the top 10% of income earners…the “tenth man”. Don’t get me wrong…I think the Bush tax cuts are a good thing. They are like the bar owner reducing the price from $100 to $80. What I am against is the MSM distortion of those tax cuts as somehow “unfair” to the people who either pay no taxes at all or pay a very small amount. The MSM encourages the 9 men to beat up on the tenth man, and that’s just stupid. Here is a real-life example of what happens when the tenth man decides he’s had enough and he’s leaving…

“Spreading the wealth around” never results in a better outcome for people. It always results in destruction.

Case study: Zimbabwe.

There are two groups that can take money away from you:

Thieves and the Government.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart.

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6

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UPDATE:

The IRS numbers shown above, from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/05in05tr.xls, were up through 2005. The most recent file that I can find is through 2009: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09in05tr.xls

In 2009, the tenth man paid 70.47% of the Income Tax bill. (Up from 70.30% last reported in 2005, and significantly higher than the 59.24% that it was in 1993, the first year of the Clinton Presidency, or the 54.69% that it was in 1986, the 6th year of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency.)

Take a look at how much of the Income Tax Bill has been paid by “the tenth man” at different points over the last 25+ years:

tax year % paid by “Tenth Man” 1986 (6th year of Ronald Reagan Presidency) 54.69% 1989 (1st Year of George H. W. Bush Presidency) 55.78% 1993 (1st Year of Bill Clinton Presidency) 59.24% 1997 (5th Year of Bill Clinton Presidency) 63.20% 2001 (1st Year of George W. Bush Presidency) 64.89% 2005 (5th Year of George W. Bush Presidency) 70.30% 2009 (1st Year of Barack Obama Presidency) 70.47% Source: IRS

The tenth man has gone from paying $54.69 of the $100.00 bar tab in 1986, to paying $70.47 of the $100.00 bar tab in 2009.

That $15.78 increase represents a nearly 29% increase… ($70.47 – $54.69) = $15.78, and ($15.78 / $54.69) = 28.8% increase.

The example in the parable above, with the 10th man paying $59 of the $100 bar tab, was correct in 1993. Today, the tenth man pays over $70 of the $100 tab. And many of the other 9 beer drinkers, especially many of those who drink for free or get paid to drink(!), are beating up on the tenth man.

And now, with talk about Keeping the Bush Tax Rates for everyone EXCEPT the tenth man, and making only the 10th man go back to the higher Clinton Tax Rates, the 10th man would pay an even higher percentage of the total Income Tax bill… perhaps as much as 75% of the bill or more.

I think what would be “fair” would be for our Government to follow the Biblical tithing example, and have everyone contribute 10% of their annual income, regardless of the source of that income, and regardless of their income level. That is both fair (because everyone would pay the exact same rate) and has the wealthy pay more than the middle classs and/or the poor.

UPDATE:

Here is another real-life example of what happens when the tenth man decides he’s had enough and he’s leaving…

UPDATE:

As Jazz Shaw predicted, higher cigarette taxes in NY have led to LESS revenue, more expenses, bigger government, more crime, and more harm to legitimate businesses.