6 Responses to IRB Coaching website

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  1

  AB on 20 September 2010 at 7:28 am

  Does this mean GBS is now President of the IRB?
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  2

  Morné on 20 September 2010 at 9:34 am

  This is a very good coaching resource, been a subsriber of it for a while now.
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  3

  AB on 20 September 2010 at 9:45 am

  Suppose that every evening, 10 men go out for beer and the bill for all
  ten comes to R100. 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 R1.
  The sixth would pay R3.
  The seventh would pay R7.
  The eighth would pay R12.
  The ninth would pay R18.
  The tenth man (the richest) would pay R59.

  So, that’s what they decided to do……. The 10 men drank in the bar
  every evening and were quite happy with the arrangement, until one day,
  the owner said, “Since you are all such good customers, I’m going to
  reduce the cost of your daily beer by R20”.

  Drinks for the 10 men would now cost just R80.
  The group still wanted to pay their bill 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 men, the paying customers – how could they
  divide the R20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share? They
  realised that R20 divided by six is R3.33. 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 his beer.
  So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s
  bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle
  of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the
  amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

  Therefore, the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing.
  The sixth now paid R2 instead of R3 (33% saving).
  The seventh now paid R5 instead of R7 (28% saving).
  The eighth now paid R9 instead of R12 (25% saving).
  The ninth now paid R14 instead of R18 (22% saving).
  The tenth now paid R49 instead of R59 (16% saving).

  Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued
  to drink for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare
  their savings.

  “I only got a rand out of the R20 saving,” declared the sixth man He
  pointed to the tenth man, “but he got R10!”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a rand too.
  It’s unfair – he got 10 times more benefit than me!”

  “That’s true!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get R10 back,
  when I got only R2? The wealthy always win!”

  “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison, “we didn’t get
  anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!”

  The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

  The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat
  down and had their beers without him. But when it came time to pay the
  bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money
  between all of them for even half of the bill!

  And that, boys and girls, journalists, labour unions and government
  ministers, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest
  taxes will naturally get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them
  too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up
  anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas, where the
  atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

  David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics.

  For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

  For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
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  4

  Scrumdown on 20 September 2010 at 9:52 am

  @ AB:
  How very true and how very apt for this day and age!
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  5

  Ashley on 20 September 2010 at 4:10 pm

  ab @ 3
  atlas shrugged? 😉
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  6

  4man on 20 September 2010 at 7:53 pm

  @ AB:
  And thats why I drink my beer on the Isle of Mann!!!