the only thing left out is the tenth man owned the bar thru one of his many investments, so the amount spent by all went towards his gross income. He also discussed business while he was having a drink and his accountant deducted the expences of the evening from his taxes. Thru another offshore account, he had an investment thru the beer distributor, the beer manufacture, the construction company that built the building, the trucking company that hauled the beer to the bar. Because the offshore account was a not a US holdings, the net taxes didn't come out of his or the companies earnings. All the while he was holding public office reaping in a sizable income and a guaranteed retirement.
Don't get me wrong, my job is strickly dependant on trickle down economics, but from listening from many of my customers that represent the 10th man, the amounts of loop holes, defirmants, and tax shelters they use, keeps them far from paying that $49. there are so many private high return, low risk investments available to people in the high end tax brackets(by invitation only), that its easy for the smart ones to make more. There are some out there that don't have enough sense to manage their money( the mass majority of rich people I meet have inherited their money), find or use the tax breaks, or hire someone to do it for them. They end up burning and crashing hard, taking their defaulted loans with them for the government to bail out the banks with all of our tax money.
Just one example, the 150ft yacht parked at our marina is owned by a very sucessfull libal(ambulance chaser) attourney. The boat was built in the US, sold to him by way of an office in the BVI's. the registry is in the BVI's. He has never paid one penny of sales tax(never carried the boat to the BVI's), never paid one penny of property tax(he has to run the boat out of the country from time to time). Gets the biggest discount for fuel because he buys in volume, gets a fuel tax rebate because its a foreign vessel. Pays no sales tax on any commodities because of foreign registry and having a foreign captain. Pays no workmans comp to his employees because of foreign registry. All the while he lives accross town in his penthouse appartment, built by one of his investment companies. There is no telling just how many loopholes he benifits from. And I give him credit for being smart enough to take advantage of them all, and they are all legal.
The annalogy presented by Ferm is probably correct in the simplest form, but given all the advantages available to the higher income groups, i seriously doubt they ever pay their $49 when it all balances out.
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