How the tax system really works ???
Suppose that every night, ten men go to their favourite bar for beer. The tab for all ten comes to $100 for ten schooners. 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.
The ten men drank in the bar every night and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner rewarded their loyalty. 
Since you are all such good customers, he said, I'm going to reduce the cost of your nightly tab by $20. So, now drinks for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their tab 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, the paying customers?
How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share'?
The six men realised 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 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:- The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). 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 drunk and outside the bar, 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 at the bar, so the nine sat down and drank without him. But when it came time to pay the tab, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the tab!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and academics, 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 to pick up the tab anymore.
After all, there are lots of great restaurants in Monaco and the Caribbean.
The Future Value of Money ???
A motorist driving through the country hit and killed a calf that was crossing the road. The driver went to the owner of the calf and explained what had happened.
He then asked what the animal was worth.
Oh, about $200 today, said the farmer, but in six years it would have been worth $900. So, $900 is what I'm out of pocket for.
The motorist sat down and wrote out a cheque and handed it to the farmer.
Here, he said, is the cheque for $900. It's post-dated six years from now.
So, when you hear the Treasurer in his budget speech or economists on The 7.30 Report talk about the net present value of this and that and the need for the Future Fund or the actuarial value of your superannuation now it will all mean something to you in a different perspective.
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