SINCERELY SCOTTY: Tax Cuts

Recently we Americans received a much needed tax cut. As expected, we have already been hearing the old phrase , “It’s just a tax cut for the rich!” and you will hear it from various politicians, friends and relatives.  When you hear it, you just assume it to be true, after all, politicians don’t lie – or do they? 

Perhaps rather than call it a lie, they simply don’t understand basic economics.

Several years ago, David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D., and Distinguished Professor of Economics, wrote a brief, but clear, summary on tax cuts and I found it very enlightening. Please read it carefully:
     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.  So, 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.  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 each 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 proportionate 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 percent savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33 percent savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28 percent savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25 percent savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22 percent savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16 percent savings). Each of the six was better off t
han 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 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 me!”  “That’s true!” shouted the seventh man.  “Why should he get $10 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 had enough money between all of them for less than half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists, teachers, 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 at the table anymore.  There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

So there you have it.  We all benefit to varying degrees from a tax cut.  Over-taxing the rich may indeed send them out of the country.  Look at the number of manufacturing companies that have moved overseas now.  They are trying to be competitive within their respective industries.  Our President has a good understanding of economics and business. Tax relief may just be one way to stem the flow of jobs going overseas. 

Think about it the next time you hear the cry that tax cuts are for the rich only; it may not be true.

Sincerely, Scotty

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