# The UK Tax System explained in Beer



## Val (Apr 11, 2013)

Ruthless copy and paste from elswhere but given our debate on eld Maggie after her passing the hows about this.

So simple even the scousers will understand it 



			THE UK TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED IN BEER

Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to Â£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 Â£1.
The sixth would pay Â£3.
The seventh would pay Â£7.
The eighth would pay Â£12.
The ninth would pay Â£18.
And the tenth man (the richest) would pay Â£59.

So, thatâ€™s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every week and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement until, one day, the owner caused them a little problem. â€œSince
you are all such good customersâ€, he said, â€œIâ€™m going to reduce the cost
of your weekly beer by Â£20. Drinks for the ten men would now cost just
Â£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
Â£20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They realized that
Â£20 divided by six is Â£3.33 but if they subtracted that from everybodyâ€™s
share then not only would the first four men still be drinking for free
but the fifth and sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his
beer.

So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fairer to reduce each manâ€™s
bill by a higher percentage. They decided 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 (a 100%
saving).
The sixth man now paid Â£2 instead of Â£3 (a 33% saving).
The seventh man now paid Â£5 instead of Â£7 (a 28% saving).
The eighth man now paid Â£9 instead of Â£12 (a 25% saving).
The ninth man now paid Â£14 instead of Â£18 (a 22% saving).
And the tenth man now paid Â£49 instead of Â£59 (a 16% saving).

Each of the last six was better off than before with the first four
continuing to drink for free.

But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare their savings. â€œI only
got Â£1 out of the Â£20 saving,â€ declared the sixth man. He pointed to the
tenth man, â€œbut he got Â£10â€³

â€œYes, thatâ€™s right,â€ exclaimed the fifth man. â€œI only saved Â£1 too. Itâ€™s
unfair that he got ten times more benefit than meâ€

â€œThatâ€™s trueâ€ shouted the seventh man. â€œWhy should he get Â£10 back when I
only got Â£2? The wealthy get all the breaksâ€

â€œWait a minute,â€ yelled the first four men in unison, â€œwe didnâ€™t get
anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poorâ€. The nine men
surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next week the tenth man didnâ€™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 â€“they didnâ€™t have enough money
between all of them to pay 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 might not show up anymore. In
fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the atmosphere is somewhat
friendlier."

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
		
Click to expand...


----------



## DappaDonDave (Apr 11, 2013)

So true!

I hate unison


----------



## Stuart_C (Apr 11, 2013)

Valentino said:



			Ruthless copy and paste from elswhere but given our debate on eld Maggie after her passing the hows about this.

So simple even the scousers will understand it 

Click to expand...


Is my Giro taxed?


----------



## Liverbirdie (Apr 11, 2013)

Is this nett or gross?

Where do I get my shots......?


----------



## williamalex1 (Apr 11, 2013)

Theres a lot to be said about communism, or Scottish'ism money wise .


----------



## JustOne (Apr 12, 2013)

Does this work with chocolate? :smirk:


----------



## Yerman (Apr 13, 2013)

You got to earn it to pay it.


----------

