Tax Question: Three Men in a Motel Room?

Question

Three Men register for a Motel/Hotel room. The desk clerk charges them
 $ 30.00 for the room. They all chip in $ 10.00 a piece. The three walk into the room and prepare to sleep.

A half hour later, the desk clerk realized he made a mistake and should have charged them $ 9.00 a piece. So the desk clerk gives the bellhop 5 dollar bills.
He directs the bellhop to give the three that rented the room $ 1.00 dollar a piece and keep the remaining $ 2.00 for yourself.

Tax Question: After returning the three dollars to the three men, their actual cost for the room became $ 27.00. $ 2.00 went to the bellhop which totals 
$ 29.00. What happened to the other dollar?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

This isn't a tax question, but I welcome a diversion.  :-)  

The key to turning this into a riddle is in the punchline.  By phrasing it as: "The men paid $27, the bellhop has $2 - where's the missing dollar?", the listener has already been painted into an irrelevant corner.  Why?  Because the punchline adds the money that the men DO NOT have ($27) with what the bellhop DOES have ($2); this is adding un-related figures.

Look at where the money is actually at.  The desk clerk originally received $30 and gave $5 back to the bellhop, so he has $25.  The three men originally gave away $30 and received $3 back, so they have $3.  The bellhop was allowed to keep $2 for his trouble.  $25 + $3 + $2 = $30.

Bostonian In MO · Answer

There is no "other dollar."  $27 for the room and $2 for the bellhop = $29.

Rob · Answer

There is no dollar missing
   30.00
  -27.00
=   3.00 
5.00
3.00  refund 1.00 each man
2.00  to bellhop

totals to 0

bikbokkop · Answer

To the desk clerc

Anonymous · Answer

they dropped the dollar

hairstyle · Answer

I dont get it??????

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Tax Question: Three Men in a Motel Room?

6 Answers