I decided to play with ChatGPT-4 to see what it is about. I asked a purposely difficult question because of undefined variables just to see what would happen. I expected a response that my question was impossible to answer without more data, or something similar.

Here is my question and ChatGPT-4's response in which it tried to go into detail to answer the question but admitted it could not.

My question:
How many hands must a dollar pass through before taxes exceed its value?
ChatGPT-4's response:

This is a tricky question, as the answer will depend on a variety of factors, including the amount of the dollar, the tax rate in the relevant jurisdiction, and the types of transactions that occur along the way. In general, however, it is unlikely that a dollar would pass through enough hands for taxes to exceed its value.


For example, let's say that the tax rate in a particular jurisdiction is 10%, and a dollar is spent by a consumer at a retail store. The retailer will then pay 10 cents in taxes on that dollar. If the retailer then spends that dollar on goods or services, the next business will also pay 10 cents in taxes, and so on. However, even if the dollar passed through 10 businesses in this way, the total taxes paid would only be $0.19, which is still less than the value of the original dollar.


Of course, this is a simplification of the actual tax system, and there may be additional taxes or fees that are applied at various points in the transaction chain. However, it is still unlikely that taxes would exceed the value of a dollar in this way.
Overall, I am impressed with the speed and logic of ChatGPT-4, however flawed. I still cannot figure out how it arrived at the total tax paid being $0.19.

During this, I also realized the dollar always has the value of a dollar and no amount of taxable transactions will decrease that. Of course I am ignoring everything else that affects the value of the dollar.

Kevin, with his economic background can probably straighten me out on this. (serious comment)

Yes, I am rambling, and no, I have not partaken of any adult beverages today.

Damn, I need a life!