Alberta: seems fitting

[BFW]

Bar Stool Economics
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:
ï‚· The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
ï‚· The fifth would pay $1.
ï‚· The sixth would pay $3.
ï‚· The seventh would pay $7.
ï‚· The eighth would pay $12.
ï‚· The ninth would pay $18.
ï‚· 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:
ï‚· The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
ï‚· The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
ï‚· The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
ï‚· The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
ï‚· The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
ï‚· 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!”
“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, boys and girls, 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

[samhill]

Nice try, but it's Warren Buffet who says "my secretary pays more tax than I do."

[Happytrails]

Sam if you'll buy that I've got some ocean front property and a bridge for sale.....in Special Areas.

[samhill]

Your in a dream world if you think the rich or highly paid pay their share of taxes.
Never bought a bridge in my life.

[riders2010]

You forgot to mention the tenth guy is paying the first four guys sf all compared to what he s making off their labour which is why he can play the big wheel. He's probably a smartass so there s likely a better party at the bar if he doesn t show up. But he ll likely own one if the political
Parties in his pocket but if the first 5 or 6 guys say fk this we re not working for nothing to make this ass rich he s screwed for a lot more than the drinks.

[sawfly]

it might be a good story at a Conservative convention.
or did Ezra Lavant , write it for
mike duffy for 4000$

different than Alberta , in Norway where they don't buy that kind of story.

they have a 100 billion or a trillion / or something. in the bank

so while Albertan's are now scrounging for beer money .

Norway is happy hour all day every day

[blackpowder]

I see the moral of the story as the four who consumed a privilege for free so long they considered it a right and demanded a refund so convincingly the fifth was convinced of the logic.
Sadly money works best as fertilizer not fungus.

Be careful using Norway as a comparison. A good example in a few ways, but there are far more disimmilarities than comparisons.

[Oliver88]

Venezuela is a good example of socialism and oil production that we don't hear too much about from the NDP.

[Hopalong]

Hear new govt has dropped support for Keystone and other pipelines.
Wonder if it will increase subsidies for railways to move grain.

[TOM4CWB]

Hopalong,

I hear the ND platform includes rail transportation reform for the grain sector. With MLA's from the Peace farming country... this is no doubt a big deal to them and Wildrose MLA's and ND's in general.

Clearly ND and All AB party politics will include reform for the rail sector.

I see major reform has already started on the Oil for rail sector yesterday in Ottawa... with a 250M$ liability fund being established for rail accidents... increased public liability of the rail sector... and big safety reform for rail cars implemented.

[Hopalong]

Supplying grain cars to RRs at little or no cost is a de facto subsidy.
Might make more sense to subsidize pipelines.

[vvalk]

Samhill. Wow. The rich don't pay there share of taxes. Maybe you should do some research and just see what percent of the total tax bill is paid by the 1% you so despise. Really if your a farmer I bet you are that 1%

[sawfly]

Oliver
Venezuela may not be the the best example.

but with millions of poor to support ,
maybe they are better off than your let the corporations
plunder at will sentiment. they could be worse off.

how do you know? i don't.

but some where there is the middle of the road./ approach

How much oil did Norway pump in the last 30 years, and how much did Alberta
and how much did each collect.
there has to be a lesson there .

the Conservative argument ,
that you should give away everything , and live off the work it creates .
has it's flaws.



now on Taxes
there are a lot of taxes where the net beneficiary s are the rich.
(or the ones that make the rules)

How many years was the world price for glyphosate like 3$ / liter and we paid 12-20$. that is a tax .]
select was 3$ in the US we paid 9$.
a tax

Even the govt. setting up their corporate medical pot business is a tax. ( lots of folks would grow it for less)
( and now the govt./ taxpayer has to pay for police and prisons to enforce this tax )

self regularizing professions are another tax.

if the collage of pharmacy has 600
qualified applicants and they only take 150.
that too is a tax
, regulating the supply, keeping a pharmacists value up.

the new seed laws , those too are taxes.
not to build roads or hospitals

, but to build business revenue for the corporations that call the tune in Ottawa.

How many billions in tax did we farmers pay the last few years, to the grain co.s for bad basis.

another tax our Harper govt. thinks is just fine.
( you get a 50$ tax credit for your kid in sports, but lose 100,000$ in basis )

maybe if we got to keep more of what we actually earn .

we would not feel so bad about paying taxes
for medicare, roads , welfare etc.














.

[samhill]

VValk, there aren't many I despise, certainly not the rich, I 'd like to be one and maybe we're talking about different rich, or not . But I know how hard it is for many wage earners in this country, and taxes are a big part of it. Taxes that aren't listed as taxes like EI that lots have to pay without any hope of collecting if they lose their job.
But the uber rich don't pay much in taxes compared to Joe Lunchbox.
This is a country rich in resources that we give away for the wages to produce, and then tax the worker for doing it.
People who burn other people alive in cages I do despise.

[blackpowder]

Agree with sawfly this time.
And I could add a few of my own.