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How taxes really work
- BryantD 14y agoThat's a fairly poor analogy in that it implies that each person gets the same meal.
- shanecleveland 14y agoA good observation.
- kodablah 14y agoIf the restaurant (and owner) are analogous to the government, could it not be inferred that the poorer of the patrons is given more while paying less? (not attempting to be classist, just seems like a reasonable inference)
- rooster117 14y agoI think its an ok analogy because its talking about federal government services and when talking about services like national security and currency protection they are all getting the same meal.
- BryantD 14y agoOh, I dunno. Let's say I run a trucking company. I think I'm benefitting a lot more from the interstates (or state highways) than that guy who's broke who doesn't own a car.
- sjg007 14y agoExcept that your trucks deliver food and widescreen TVs to the guy with the broken car for a cheap price.
- batty 14y agoThey're getting a rather different legal system, mind you.
- senjutsuka 14y agoFalse. For this metaphor to work the richest guy would have to have been fed everyone's meal (by them) and then left varied numbered of fortune cookies for each of the others. The rentier society at work. Remember in the real economy the top players get paid to hold on to the lower players money, or to lend one persons money to another person. They also benefit from a disproportionate amount of the tax dollars in the form of breaks, subsidies and even more importantly civil structures such as educated workers.
- shanecleveland 14y agoIt's an interesting perspective. I'd like to hear from someone with some expertise on how accurate it is.
- sjg007 14y agoWell the restaurant owner would either have to "eat" the loss by taking what they can pay, or allow the table to run a "deficit" by providing credit on the promise that they will pay it back the next week, or provide them with a smaller meal the next time going forward. These pretty much describe the current world situation.
- gallerytungsten 14y agoThis article ignores the fact that many wealthy individuals, via investments and other rentier activities, are able to obtain lower effective tax rates than people who work for a living.
- bonchibuji 14y ago'There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.' Well, eating a croissant and a glass of Bordeaux wine will burn a hole in the pocket though :-)