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Book
of the month
- Effective
Decision-making: Guide to Thinking for Management Success
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New Venture - Toot-n-Scoot - Drink and Drive without
breaking the law!
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Feature Article: Understanding
the Tax System
This went around via email some time ago - forgive
me if you have seen it but it's worth a look if you haven't!
Let's
put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten
men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. 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, and
the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59. That's what they decided to
do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy
with the arrangement -- until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax
language a tax cut). "Since you are all such good customers," he
said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."
So
now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.
The
group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first
four men were unaffected. They would still eat 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 realized
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 end up being PAID to eat
their meal. So the restaurant 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 now paid nothing, the sixth
pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12,
leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.
Each
of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat
for free.
But
once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I
only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man, pointing to
the tenth. "But he got $7!". "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed
the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that
he got seven times more than me!". "That's true!" shouted the
seventh man," why should he get $7 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 he didn't show
up for dinner (or, in the real world, he took his business out of the country),
so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the
bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO
DOLLARS short of paying the bill!
Imagine
that!
And
that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the 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 at the table anymore. Where would that leave the rest?
Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this
rather straightforward logic!
Source
Unknown
For
all your technical support (PC supply, maintenance and upgrades; networking;
data recovery; virus protection; ADSL; etc.), see www.bitwise.com.
Gauteng
Seminar - The internationally accredited USB Executive Development Ltd
(USB-ED), the executive education company within the University of Stellenbosch
Business School (USB), is presenting a two-day seminar on Women as Leaders
– Achieving with People. This programme
will take place in Gauteng from Thursday 20 to Friday 21 November 2003. For
more information contact Sylvia Willemburg on (021) 918-4344, email sylviaw@usb-ed.com
or Fatimah Boltman on telephone (021) 918-4222, email fatimah.boltman@usb-ed.com.
International
Classical Music Festival - This will be taking place from the 3rd until
the 17th of November, featuring a host of international and local artists.
See www.icmf.co.za for
more information. Website proudly sponsored by Saratoga Software.
Congratulations
to Allen Ambor of the Spur Corporation for his nomination for the Ernst
& Young World Entrepreneur Awards 2003. The winner will be announced on
3 November - we will be holding thumbs!
Effective
Decision-making: Guide to Thinking for Management Success 
 |
A
guide for the self- and company-employed, as well as those who
seek to manage their own lives effectively. Adair is the author
of a range of management guides, and in this one he begins with
theory and then builds a picture of 'good' decision-making technique
to be developed and applied in practical situations. The book
is intended for consumption as a whole, rather than dipping
in and out. Adair advocates re-reading the book 'at least twice'. |
Back to Contents
Announcing a New JHB Venture: Toot-n-Scoot
Andre
Nel (South African Cricketer) getting arrested in Australia for drinking and
driving and the high Easter Road death toll, has highlighted what we all know
has been going on for a long time in South Africa. People think it is totally
acceptable to get into their car and drive after they have had a few drinks.
I’ll bet he even thought he was completely sober! The problem for him
is that he has grown up in an environment where getting into your car drunk,
is a way of life – in fact it would probably rate far ahead of soccer
and cricket as a national sport!
Help
is on hand though – a new business aptly called Toot-n-Scoot is offering
a service where you can drink to your hearts content, and then be driven
home at the end of the evening. Toot-n-Scoot Managing Director, Adrian Bradley
explains - “All you do when you are ready to go home, is phone the
call centre and a driver is dispatched to drive you home in your own car!
The novelty of the concept is that the driver arrives at your car on a motorbike,
which collapses and fits into the boot of your car. After you have been
dropped off at home, he merely takes his motorbike out of your boot, and
rides off to fetch the next person requesting the service.”
Bradley
says that response to the service has been phenomenal – "We started
offering the service at corporate functions, and the response from individuals
prompted us to set up a call centre with drivers available 24 hours, 7 days
a week. People also kept asking for a bus to take people around so we have
added a BoozeBus to our offering – this is a dedicated driver and bus
that picks you up, takes you anywhere you want to go, and drops you off
at home at the end of the evening."
The
service is also receiving a lot of interest from corporates. Companies cannot
quantify the intellectual capital cost of losing a staff member, and the
bad publicity received if a senior staff member or director is arrested
for drinking and driving easily justifies the use of the service. Bradley
says: "The corporate world revolves around entertaining, and Toot-n-Scoot
is now an easy way for a company to act in a socially responsible manner,
while also ensuring that key staff members never end up giving the company
a bad name."
The
business currently only operates in greater Johannesburg, but is looking
to expand to the rest of the country as fast as possible. Bradley again
comments: "The calls have been coming in from all over the country
– last weekend we had a call from Cape Town to drive someone home from
a wedding! The concept is easy to franchise, and so we are actively looking
at this. We only see demand increasing with the introduction of the new
Drivers License points system towards the end of the year."
Toot-n-Scoot
is changing the way people are thinking about drinking and driving. Graeme
Reynolds MD of Dozer Parts says: "I no longer have to worry about my
staff – we now have a service available to them should they feel they
have overindulged while entertaining clients. We are a fun company, where
everyone works hard and plays hard. I can’t afford to lose any of my
staff, even for a day, so as soon as I heard about Toot-n-Scoot I signed
us up. There is no question that this is now the most valuable service that
we have available."
All
enquiries or bookings can be made on the national call centre number: 082
239 4668.
Back to Contents
"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" - Brittany
Murphy
Please send us your comments or questions to sallyh@saratoga.co.za or post them on
our Discussion
Board.
Until
next time...
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