Loading ...There once was a nice man who lived in a nice home and he kept his yard nice, mowing the grass and trimming the bushes. One day a man knocked on his door and said “I’m from the government and we’ve implemented a new neighborhood clean up program.” “What is that about?” said the nice man.
“Well, for a fee we’ll have some people come to your house and clean up the yard, mow your grass and trim your bushes. You see some people in the neighborhood aren’t keeping up appearances and it affects the whole neighborhood.” The nice man said, “I don’t need that. I take care of my own yard.”
The government man went on to explain that the program is mandatory and it helps to employ people that don’t have jobs. It’s better for the economy and it beautifies the neighborhood. The nice man looked around and said “This neighborhood looks good to me.” The government man pointed toward the ‘rough’ part of town. That neighborhood over there doesn’t look so good. Ironically, the government man pointed toward the part of town where most of the residents were unemployed.
The nice man asked “Well since its mandatory I guess I’ll let you do cut my grass, cleanup my yard and trim my bushes.” The government man then explained that there is a tax that must be paid to cover the cost of employing the people to do the work. The nice man said, “Well how much is the tax?”
The government man then said “That depends on how much money you have. How much money do you have?” The nice man got understandablly upset. He said “What do you mean it depends on how much I have. The going rate to cut grass and the cleanup the yard and trim the bushes isn’t much and it’s the same for everyone. The government man explained that the pricing is “progressive”. It is the fair way to charge for this service.
The nice man then got angry and told the government man to go away. The government man objected but the nice man was angry and yelled at the gonverment man to go.
The next day the government man knocked on the nice man’s door again. But this time he had two other men with him. These men wore uniforms and carried guns. This time the government man explained again that the neighborhood cleanup program was mandatory and if the nice man did not cooperate the two armed men would confiscate money from the nice man’s bank account. If the nice man did no cooperate the armed men might also kdinap the nice man and put him in a cage.
The nice man reluctantly agreed to comply. The government man then asked once again, “So how much money do you have?”