Dear Brother,

If you think the Bush tax cut plan is unfair, please read this rebuttal that appeared in the Sunday, March 4 Chicago Tribune. By the way, the ratios are roughly accurate; 10% of the taxpayers pay about 60% of the taxes collected, 30% pay 37%, and 60% collectively pay only 4%:

Every night, 10 men met at a restaurant for dinner. At the end of the meal, the bill would arrive; they owed $100 for the food that they shared. Every night they lined up in the same order at the cash register to pay the bill. The first four men paid nothing at all. The fifth, grumbling about the unfairness of the situation, 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 five men.

The 10 men were 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. Outside of the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings, and angry outbursts began to erupt. 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?"

The nine men formed an outraged mob (this is where the Democratic Party aggravates everyone about unfairness), surrounding the 10th man. The first four men followed the lead of the others: "Even though we weren't paying anything in the first place, we didn't get any of the $20 reduction in cost; where is our share?" The nine angry men then carried the 10th man up to the top of a hill and lynched him!

The next night, the nine remaining men met at the restaurant for dinner. But when the bill came, there was no one to pay it.

-Your loving Brother with a Real World perspective

Dear Brother,

To put this story in a true real world perspective, before the tax cut the first 4 men paid nothing because that was all they had, NOTHING; the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th men paid $1, $3, $7, $12, and $18, respectively, because that was all they could afford; and the 10th man paid $59 with a $100 bill and had $41 left over.

After the tax cut the first 4 men paid nothing because that was still all they had; the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th men now paid $0, $2, $5, $10, and $16, respectively, each keeping a $1 or 2 for gas to drive home; and the 10th man paid the remaining $47 with a $100 bill and now had $53 left over.

This is what the situation really is if only you open your eyes and look around. By the way, the 10th man was also a former associate of our President and owned the gas station. So the 10th man really got ALL of the tax cut eventually.

Please forward this answer to all your rich friends and to your Chicago Tribune too.

-The only Independent Voter in this family

This is the views of two brothers - not the views of THE REAL TRUTH !