Splitting the cost of a meal

Yourself and a group of friends just had dinner at an expensive restaurant. The bill has arrived. How will it be split? Do you each pay for whatever you ate? Do you split the bill evenly by the number of people in the group? Does whoever have the most money pay most of the bill? Which of these is the fairest and why? Finally, do you see any parallels with taxes?

It seems to me, if I were to actually answer the question posed by myself, that I would rank their fairness from fairest to unfairest as "seperate checks", "splitting the check" and finally, "rich guy pays". Yet, despite "rich guy pays" being the least fair, it's how the USA tax system works. If you make nothing you pay nothing. The more money you make, the more you pay, regardless of what you ordered off the menu.

That is how the US tax system works, but in the US not everyone is "eating the meal".

You mean there are people that don't use police, roads, libraries, parks, etc? I think everyone is eating, and just about evenly, but a few rich guys are getting stuck with the check while others head for the bathroom.

One can always ask for separate checks.

How a check is split up often depends on the group and the unwritten rule they have established. Some groups will simply split evenly, others will pass the check around for everyone to add up their portion of the cost (especially if the bar tab is greater than the food bill). The most interesting aspect of the question is who makes up the difference if the contributions fall short?

Or I could say, the poor person has 1 hamburger which the government leaves alone, and the rich person has 100 hamburgers of which the government takes 35, leaving him with 65 hamburgers for the meal, and say that this system is better than only taking 30 from the rich person and taking half of the poor persons hamburger.

So whichever victim can take the most abuse, gets the most abuse?

Are we talking about victims and abuse, or people at a restaurant and hamburgers? (Clearly we aren't talking about citizens and taxes)

So whichever victim can take the most abuse, gets the most abuse?

Yourself and a group of friends just had dinner at an expensive restaurant. The bill has arrived. How will it be split? Do you each pay for whatever you ate? Do you split the bill evenly by the number of people in the group? Does whoever have the most money pay most of the bill? Which of these is the fairest and why? Finally, do you see any parallels with taxes?

Yourself and a group of friends just had dinner at an expensive restaurant. The bill has arrived. How will it be split? Do you each pay for whatever you ate? Do you split the bill evenly by the number of people in the group? Does whoever have the most money pay most of the bill? Which of these is the fairest and why? Finally, do you see any parallels with taxes?

With taxes, the rich are benefiting from the laws more than anyone else, so they should pay more. You don't think that those who get more should pay the same as those who get less, do you?

Someone taking money from you against your will is theft and makes you a victim.

So, every time I pay my phone bill I am the victim of theft?

Someone taking money from you against your will is theft and makes you a victim.