----> Tax cuts for the rich....???? If you think every Republican "risky tax scheme" is unfair, read this adaptation of a rebuttal that appeared several years ago in the Chicago Tribune. By the way, these ratios are roughly accurate even in 2009: 10% of the taxpayers pay about 60% of ALL taxes collected, 30% pay 37%, and 60% of the people collectively pay only 4%. Many of the latter group who pay only 4% of taxes actually get an annual "tax refund" (aka "Earned Income Credit") even though they do not work and pay no taxes at all. Below is a story to make it easier for the so-called Moderates (both Democrat and Republican alike) to understand. The hand-wringing, hard-core Liberals never will... ################################################################# The scene opens in a mid-town restaurant. Every night, 10 men would meet there for dinner. At the end of the meal, the bill would arrive; they always owed $100 for the food that they ordered. Every night they lined up in the same order - "poorest" to "richest" - at the cash register to pay the bill. The first four men, each having been declared a Victim of Work Deficit Disorder (WDD), paid nothing at all. The fifth, grumbling about the unfairness of the situation (and wishing he had WDD too), paid $1. The sixth man, feeling a little put out, paid $3. The next three men paid $7, $12 and $18, respectively. The last man was required to pay the remaining balance, $59; He realized he was paying for not only his own meal but the unpaid balance left by the first nine men. But he did anyway. Even so, the 10 men had become quite settled into their routine when the restaurant threw them into chaos by announcing that it was cutting its prices. Now dinner for the 10 men would only cost $80. This clearly would not affect the first four men; they still ate for free. The fifth man announced he would now pay nothing either. The sixth man lowered his contribution by 1/3, and paid only $2. The seventh man deducted $2 from his usual payment and paid only $5. The eighth man paid $9 instead of his usual $12. The ninth man paid $12, $6 less than before. This left the last man with a bill of $52, $7 less than before. Outside of the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings, and angry outbursts erupted. The sixth man yelled: "I got only $1 out of the $20 in cost reduction, and he got $7 pointing at the last man. The fifth man joined in: "Yeah! I only saved $1 too. It is unfair that he got seven times more than me." The seventh man cried, "Why should he get a reduction of $7 when I only got $2?" Even though they did not pay anything in the first place, the first four freeloaders raged "We didn't get any of the $20 reduction in cost; where is our share? Look, those six privileged men STOLE the ENTIRE $20 savings! We must make an example of them... and teach the 'rich' man a REAL lesson!" And the four shrilly began to call for swift "economic justice" to bring more "fairness" and to "spread the wealth" to all disadvantaged people - themselves first naturally. The five who had shared in at least some savings knew that they had better agree too or else face the wrath of the four WDD men, who were larger and stronger than all the rest put together. So the nine angry men visited violence upon the 'rich' man and lynched him straightaway. The next night, the nine remaining men met at the restaurant for dinner once again. Their conversation was mostly about how their swift action had ensured a new fairness for all. But when the bill came, there was no 'rich' man to pay it. [AMERICA: Can you hear me, now?]