100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt....all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government. Grace Commission (Report submitted to President Ronald Reagan on 15 Jan 1984)
A billion here, a billion there, sooner or later it adds up to real money. Everett Dirksen
According to a new poll, 7 out of 10 Americans say the tax code is too complicated. Well duh, that's why they call it a code. They don't want you to understand it. That's the whole idea. Jay Leno, Apr 2005
A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) French politician and writer
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well. Author Unknown
After a decade of profligacy, the American people are tired of politicians who talk the talk but don't walk the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility. It's easy to get up in front of the cameras and rant against exploding deficits. What's hard is actually getting deficits under control. But that's what we must do. Like families across the country, we have to take responsibility for every dollar we spend. Barack Obama, 2010 (How's that for chutzpah?)
[A]fter the tax hikes go into effect next year, more than half of my total income is going to go to the government. You tell me, what's fair about that when medieval serfs paid twenty-five percent, I'm paying half? I don't care what the majority voted to do, they don't have a right to steal my money just because they vote for it. Peter Schiff, Dec 2012
A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. Calvin Coolidge
A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. G. Gordon Liddy
All the Congress, all the accountants and tax lawyers, all the judges, and a convention of wizards cannot tell for sure what the income tax law says. Walter B. Wriston, Chairman and CEO of Citicorp
America is a land of taxation that was founded to avoid taxation. Dr. Laurence J. Peter
America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to "the common good," but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance -- and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way. Ayn Rand
Amid all the media hysteria over the price of gasoline and the profits of 'Big Oil,' one simple fact has been repeatedly overlooked: The oil companies' earnings are just under 10 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, while taxes take 17 percent. Yet who ever accuses the government of 'greed?' Thomas Sowell, Author, Newspaper Columnist and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow
An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation. Justice John Marshall (1755-1835) US Supreme Court Chief Justice (McCullough v. Maryland, 1819)
Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands. Justice Learned Hand (1872-1961), US Court of Appeals (Gregory v. Helvering)
Any system that penalizes success and accomplishment is wrong. Any system that discourages work, discourages productivity, discourages economic progress, is wrong. If, on the other hand, you reduce tax rates and allow people to spend or save more of what they earn, they'll be more industrious; they'll have more incentive to work hard, and money they earn will add fuel to the great economic machine that energizes our national progress. Ronald Reagan
Any time a man has to pay for something he does not want because of the initiating of force by the government, he is, to that degree, a slave. RC Hoiles
A Republican and a Democrat were walking down the street when they came upon a homeless person. The Republican gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his business for a job. He then took twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person. The Democrat was very impressed, and when they came to another homeless person, he decided to help. He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. He then reached into the Republican's pocket and gave him fifty dollars. Author Unknown
Are you entitled to the fruits of your labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend? ... Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
A rigid economy of the public contributions and absolute interdiction of all useless expenses will go far towards keeping the government honest and unoppressive. Thomas Jefferson
As a taxpayer, you are required to be fully in compliance with the United States Tax Code, which is currently the size and weight of the Budweiser Clydesdales. Dave Barry (1947- ) Humorist
As for taxes, we could stop taxing productivity and start taxing consumption. After all, productivity is what makes a society more prosperous. Someone who is adding to the total wealth of this country is not depriving you of anything. But someone who is consuming the nation's wealth, without contributing anything to it, is. Yet our tax system penalizes those who are producing wealth in order to subsidize those who are only consuming it. Thomas Sowell
As I went about with my father, when he collected taxes, I knew that when taxes were laid someone had to work hard to earn the money to pay them. Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933), 30th US President
A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform. Russell B. Long, US Senator
A taxpayer is someone who works for the federal government but who doesn't have to take a civil service examination. Ronald Reagan
[A] wise and frugal government...shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government. Thomas Jefferson
Before we give you billions more, we want to know what you've done with the trillion you've got. Les Aspin
Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors...and miss. Robert Heinlein
Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes. Dave Barry
Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt. Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) US president
But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author (The Law, 1848)
Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. James Madison
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery. President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933)
Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay. Milton Friedman
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated. ... A wise and frugal government...shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. Thomas Jefferson
Congress will ever exercise their powers to levy as much money as the people can pay. They will not be restrained from direct taxes by the consideration that necessity does not require them. Melancton Smith (1744-1798)
Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them. Scarlett O'Hara, in Gone With The Wind
Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Calvin Coolidge
Every tax dollar the government takes is a dollar that can't go to charities and churches. Every program the government runs, from education to health care to the welfare office, can easily become a kind of taxpayer-backed monopoly. But sometimes the state goes further. Not content with crowding out alternative forms of common effort, it presents its rivals an impossible choice: Play by our rules, even if it means violating the moral ideals that inspired your efforts in the first place, or get out of the community-building business entirely.
Ross Douthat, 28 Jan 2012
Every government interference in the economy consists of giving unearned benefit extorted by force to some men at the expense of others. Ayn Rand
Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone. Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850), French economist, statesman and author
Every time I pay the maximum tax rates, every time I sign that tax form, I smile. I thank God I live in a country that gave me a chance to make the money I do. Bill Clinton
Every time liberals raise taxes, they think the people they want to help will feel better because somebody's being gotten even with. The rich are going to suffer like you are? No. The rich will keep their jobs. You're going to get laid off. Rush Limbaugh, 6 May 2008
Excessive taxation...will carry reason and reflection to every man's door, and particularly in the hour of election. Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1798
Fear is the key element for the IRS in achieving its mission. Without fear, the IRS would have a difficult time maintaining our so-called system of voluntary compliance.... Santo Presti, former IRS Criminal Investigation Agent and author of "IRS In Action
Few of us ever test our powers of deduction, except when filling out an income tax form. Laurence J. Peter, author
For an illustration of the difference between proportionate and progressive taxation, we can look to the Bible. There, tithing is explained as the economic basis of our Judaic-Christian religions. The Lord says you shall contribute one-tenth and He says, 'If I prosper you 10 times as much you will give 10 times as much.' That is proportionate -- but look what happens today when you start computing Caesar's share. A man of average income who suddenly prospered ten times as much would find his personal income tax increased 43 times. Ronald Reagan
For that portion of Income with which...articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. Thomas Jefferson
Forty-seven million Americans don't pay income taxes, and I'll wager that the vast majority voted for Obama. You tell them he's a socialist, and they may not even understand what that is -- and if they do, they think it's a good thing. Rush Limbaugh, 5 Nov 2008
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. PJ O'Rourke
Goods, people, and information will not flow freely across a nation, regardless of the quality and extent of its infrastructure, if taxes and regulations block their flow. Richard W. Fulmer
Government does not tax to get the money it needs; government always finds a need for the money it gets. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
Government has no more right to put their hands into my pockets, without my consent, than I have to put my hands into yours. George Washington
Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Ronald Reagan
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else....Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would otherwise involve. But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn't belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another....Then abolish that law without delay; No legal plunder; this is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic. Claude Frederic Bastiat, prominent 19th-century political economist
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. Ronald Reagan
Government cannot make man richer, but it can make him poorer. Ludwig von Mises
Governments last as long as the undertaxed can defend themselves against the overtaxed. Bernard Berenson (1865-1959)
Have Congress a right to raise and appropriate the money to any and to every purpose according to their will and pleasure? They certainly have not. The Government of the United States is a limited Government, instituted for great national purposes, and for those only. Other interests are committed to the States, whose duty it is to provide for them. Each government should look to the great and essential purposes for which it was instituted and confine itself to those purposes. James Monroe
Have we the courage and the will to face up to the immorality and discrimination of the progressive tax, and demand a return to traditional proportionate taxation? ... Today in our country the tax collector's share is 37 cents of every dollar earned. Freedom has never been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
Higher taxes never reduce the deficit. Governments spend whatever they take in and then whatever they can get away with. Milton Friedman
How come Sherlock Holmes never paid any income tax? Brilliant deductions. Phillip Tilley
I am not unaware of the great importance of roads and canals, and the improved navigation of watercourses
..but, seeing that such a power is not expressly given to the Constitution, and believing that it cannot be deduced from any part of it without an inadmissible latitude of construction
I have no option but to withhold my signature from it. James Madison (speaking about a bill to improve roads and canals with federal money that he refused to sign)
I am proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is -- I could be just as proud for half of the money. Arthur Godfrey, entertainer
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents....If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions. James Madison, author of the US Constitution
I don't know if I can live on my income or not -- the government won't let me try it. Bob Thaves
I don't like the income tax. Every time we talk about these taxes we get around to the idea of 'from each according to his capacity and to each according to his needs'. That's socialism. It's written into the Communist Manifesto. Maybe we ought to see that every person who gets a tax return receives a copy of the Communist Manifesto with it so he can see what's happening to him. T. Coleman Andrews (1899-1983), Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 25 May 1956, US News & World Report
I don't need Bush's tax cut. I have never worked a [blanking] day in my life. Congressman Patrick Kennedy, 2004 (liberal son of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy)
If Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took three buckets of water out of a lake, ran to the other side of the lake, and poured those three buckets into the lake, do you really believe there's more water in the lake? That's their spending plan: Take money out of the productive economy, walk around, and hand it to the politically connected - 800 billion times. Grover Norquist,
Americans for Tax Reform
If duties [taxes] are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds. Alexander Hamilton
If the system be established on basis of Income, and his just proportion on that scale has been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of Consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth or homespun, wine or whiskey, a coach or a wagon, is doubly taxing the same article. For that portion of Income with which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax as Income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased, is paying twice for the same thing; it is an aggrievance on the citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 Apr 1816)
If you can get a flat tax with no exemptions or deductions
its main advantage would not be the greater equity of a flat tax or less interference in private incentives. It would be to end this business of changing the whole tax system every few years and keeping prosperous these hordes of tax lawyers. Milton Friedman
If we run into such debts, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts and daily expenses; and the sixteenth being insufficient to afford us bread, we must live, as they now do, on oatmeal and potatoes; have no time to think, no means of calling the mismanagers to account; but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers. Thomas Jefferson
I have several pet peeves, and one of them is the idea that when Americans get to keep their own money, it somehow 'costs' the government. John J. Miller
I like to come to Washington, D.C., at least once a year. Why should my tax money travel more than I do? Bob Hope
I love to go to Washington, if only to be near my money. Bob Hope
I'm for a flat tax -- as long as the flat rate is zero. The object is to get rid of big government, not find a new way of financing it. Harry Browne
In a general sense, all contributions imposed by the government upon individuals for the service of the state, are called taxes, by whatever name they may be known, whether by the name of tribute, tythe, tallage, impost, duty, gabel, custom, subsidy, aid, supply, excise, or other name. Joseph Story (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833)
In a recent conversation with an official at the Internal Revenue Service, I was amazed when he told me that 'If the taxpayers of this country ever discover that the IRS operates on 90% bluff the entire system will collapse'. Henry Bellmon (1921-) Governor of Oklahoma, US Senator (R-OK), 1969
Income taxes have made more liars out of the American people than golf. Will Rogers (1879-1935) American humorist, 1924
Inflation has now been institutionalized at a fairly constant 5% per year. This has been determined to be the optimum level for generating the most revenue without causing public alarm. A 5% devaluation applies, not only to the money earned this year, but to all that is left over from previous years. At the end of the first year, a dollar is worth 95 cents. At the end of the second year, the 95 cents is reduced again by 5%, leaving its worth at 90 cents, and so on. By the time a person has worked 20 years, the government will have confiscated 64% of every dollar he saved over those years. By the time he has worked 45 years, the hidden tax will be 90%. The government will take virtually everything a person saves over a lifetime. G. Edward Griffin
In general the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other. Voltaire
[Franηois Marie Arouet] (1694-1778) 1764
In politics, throwing the taxpayers' money at disasters is supposed to show your compassion. But robbing Peter to pay Paul is not compassion. It is politics. Thomas Sowell
In the lexicon of the political class, the word 'sacrifice' means that the citizens are supposed to mail even more of their income to Washington so that the political class will not have to sacrifice the pleasure of spending it. George Will
In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin
In the matter of taxation, every privilege is an injustice. Voltaire
I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Ludlow, 1824
It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now....Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus. John F. Kennedy
It is a principle incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. James Madison (letter to the Dey of Algiers, Aug 1816)
It is a wise rule and should be fundamental in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same time to restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, 'never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within a given term; and to consider that tax as pledged to the creditors on the public faith.' Thomas Jefferson
It is evident from the state of the country, from the habits of the people, from the experience we have had on the point itself, that it is impracticable to raise any very considerable sums by direct taxation. Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No. 12, 1787)
It's the Democrats whose position is that the only problem in Washington, D.C., is the peasants aren't sending enough cash in for the king to spend. Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform
It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income. Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1758
I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom. Calvin Coolidge
I want to home in on Obama's notion of fairness. "If you make more than $1 million a year," he says [State of the Union address, 2012], "you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes." How does he know that constitutes fairness? Obviously 30 percent is an arbitrary figure. If he's concerned that income and payroll taxes take a smaller percentage of Warren Buffett's income than the percentage they take from his secretary's income, why not reduce his secretary's tax rate? It's certainly not obvious that Buffett should pay more. Sheldon Richman
I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we...have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Davy Crockett, Democratic Congressman, Tennessee
Just because I want to spread the wealth around, they call me a socialist. The next thing you know, they will call me a communist because I shared my peanut butter sandwich in kindergarten! Barrack Obama in a 2008 presidential campaign infomercial (Of course, Obama isn't proposing to "share" his sandwich. Instead, he's proposing to confiscate your sandwich, by force if necessary, and give it to someone he deems more worthy. Truth is, it's unlikely Obama ever shared a sandwich with anyone. According to his tax records, Barack and Michelle Obama had an average annual income of more than $500,000 between 2000 and 2006, but only gave two percent of their income to charity. Obama's running mate is even more miserly. The Bidens' income averaged $260,000 over the last 10 years, but they averaged just $650 a year in charitable giving.)
Lawful, legitimate tax deductions have all now been called 'loopholes.' I mean, we're losing the language debate every day. A legitimate tax deduction is not a 'loophole.' But as far as these low-information voters are concerned, it is. Rush Limbaugh, 4 Dec 2012
Let's get rid of taxes. Taxes are why we left England. White people said, "They're taxing everything. Let's go!" That was over 300 years ago. They thought they were doing a good thing, now taxes are even higher and there's no place left to go! Chris Rock
Like mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten. Lord Bramwell, 19th Century English jurist
Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased -- not a reduced -- flow of revenues to the federal government. ... The present tax codes ... inhibit the mobility and formation of capital, add complexities and inequities which undermine the morale of the taxpayer, and make tax avoidance rather than market factors a prime consideration in too many economic decisions. John F. Kennedy
Many of you are well enough off that [President Bush's] tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. Hillary Clinton, US Senator at a 28 Jun 2004 fund raising event in San Francisco
Money with [Congress] is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it. David Crockett
Most people seem to think legalized gambling is immoral and destructive. I see it as simply a tax on people who are unable to grasp basic math. John Ziegler
Most taxpayers are skeptical that the answer to our fiscal problems is for them to sacrifice more, when
more than half of all households are not paying any income taxes and an increasingly smaller group of Americans is shouldering the burden for an increasingly larger group of Americans. Orrin Hatch, Senate Finance Committee member,
May 2011
Most [tax revisions] didn't improve the system, they made it more like Washington itself: complicated, unfair, cluttered with gobbledygook and loopholes designed for those with the power and influence to hire high-priced legal and tax advisers. Ronald Reagan
Name for me a year, just one year, between 1776 and 1942, when the nation couldn't function because we had no income tax. Can't find one? Okay name a month, just one month, when the nation collapsed, couldn't pay its bills, because we had no income tax. How about a week? Alan Stang, Mar 2006
Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund. FJ Raymond, humorist
No government can exist without taxation. This money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress. Frederick the Great, 18th Century Prussian king
No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant. George Washington
Once politics become a tug-of-war for shares in the income pie, decent government is impossible. Friedrich A. Hayek
One difference between the government and a mugger is a mugger doesn't make you spend a day filling out a complicated [tax] form so he can rob you. Frank Fleming
Only the rare taxpayer would be likely to know that he could refuse to produce his records to IRS agents... Who would believe the ironic truth that the cooperative taxpayer fares much worse than the individual who relies upon his constitutional rights. Judge Walter Joseph Cummings Jr. (1916-1999) US Federal Judge, United States Solicitor General
Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
Our out-of-control budget also erodes personal freedom. When government grows, as Thomas Jefferson once famously put it, 'liberty yields.' Dollar by trillion dollar we are voluntarily giving up our liberties for a government that promises us, in return, a blanket of protection from cradle to coffin. Republicans are steering us in the direction of the 'workers' paradise' of a European socialist welfare state. The reply from the Democrats is faster, faster. Stephen Moore. 2004
Our problem is not a temporary explosion of spending either because of a war or hurricanes or disasters. It's our entitlements which are draining our economy and which everybody, particularly the liberals, will not index for income. Charles Krauthammer
People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women. Author Unknown
Politicians never accuse you of 'greed' for wanting other people's money -- only for wanting to keep your own money. Joseph Sobran
Private contractors are taking over many jobs formerly on the federal payroll. Government workers have known better days. There was great esprit de corps among federal workers who flocked to Washington, DC during the Great Depression to help President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Helen Thomas, 2005 (Only a liberal could think that private contractors are a bad thing)
Public debt allows present taxpayers to reduce their tax payments and obligates future taxpayers to amortize that debt, and it is here that the burden of the debt resides. Dick Wagner
Read my lips: no new taxes. George H. W. Bush
Reasonable people can disagree over whether or not voluntary charity would be sufficient. It's a mistake, however, to classify coerced 'giving' as 'compassion,' and downright bizarre to accuse those of us who would rely more upon genuine compassion evidenced by people giving from the goodness of their hearts rather than from a desire to avoid imprisonment as endorsing a society without compassion. Don Boudreaux
Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but democrats believe every day is April 15. Ronald Reagan
Right now the tax code consists of one rule for every living creature in the United States. Remove insects and birds, and it's about 14,237 rules per person. This generally means we're all doing something wrong, either by forgetting to apply for the 1083 Schedule B Miscellaneous Hummel Figurine Depreciation Benefit, or because we're not paying tax on the extra quarter the pop machine spat out by mistake. The tax code is longer than the Bible, in other words, with twice as much smiting and half as much forgiveness. Couldn't it be pared down? Of course. But tax simplification can't be done halfway. To some it means shorter words in the 1040. To others it means replacing the entire code with bell-ringers and kettles on the street corner, soliciting donations. But to people who do not live their intellectual lives according to the wisdom of Che or Ayn Rand, there are two alternatives: a flat-rate tax or a consumption tax. Why have we not debated them seriously before? ... The chances of the Internal Revenue Service being eliminated this year are about the same as a small, Earth-bound meteor striking only Paris Hilton. In other words, it doesn't matter how desirable the outcome, it's not going to happen. James Lileks
Roughly 51 percent of all Americans have no tax liability. I'm not one for taxes, but if some people have no tax liability the big problem is that they then become natural constituents for big-spending politicians. If they don't have any federal income tax liability, what do they care about the federal income tax or how high it goes? What do they care about tax cuts? Dr. Walter E. Williams, 25 May 2010
Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase....Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm. I'm pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders. President George W. Bush, Calling for Permanent Tax Relief in his 2008 State of the Union Address
Spending is a liberty issue. Every time Obama takes money from you for the government to use, that's a dollar that the state decides how to spend and the citizen doesn't. Mark Steyn
Suppose I hire you to repair my computer. The job is worth $200 to me and doing the job is worth $200 to you. The transaction will occur because we have a meeting of the mind. Now suppose there's the imposition of a 30 percent income tax on you. That means you won't receive $200 but instead $140. You might say the heck with working for me spending the day with your family is worth more than $140. You might then offer that you'll do the job if I pay you $285. That way your after-tax earnings will be $200 what the job was worth to you. There's a problem. The repair job was worth $200 to me, not $285. So it's my turn to say the heck with it. This simple example demonstrates that one effect of taxes is that of eliminating transactions, and hence jobs. Walter Williams, Economist
Taxation without representation is tyranny. James Otis (1725-1783)
Taxation with representation aint so hot either. Gerald Barzan, humorist
Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, US Supreme Court Justice
Taxes are what we pay for civilized society. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., US Supreme Court Justice
Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. Franklin D. Roosevelt
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. Karl Marx
Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reeactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free. Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Wayles Eppes, 24 Jun 1813)
Taxes were not raised to carry on wars, wars were raised to carry on taxes. Thomas Paine
Taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't take the civil service exam. Ronald Reagan
Tax reform is taking the taxes off things that have been taxed in the past and putting taxes on things that haven't been taxed before. Art Buchwald (1925-2006)
Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress. Consumer, 1957
That most delicious of all privileges -- spending other people's money. John Randolph of Roanoke
That's the point that the Democrats always seem to miss. They always want to take more and more away from what the American people earn and produce by raising taxes. The Democrats believe that America is great because of all the good things that government has been able to do for people and because America's greatness lies in government. Those poor, misguided Democrats. They don't seem to understand that America isn't great because of what government did for the people. America is great because free people have had the chance and the incentive and the opportunity to dream, strive and work toward their goals. That's what has made America great. Ronald Reagan
The art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another. Voltaire (1694-1778) French Philosopher and Author
The average farmer makes 17% more than the average non-farmer and is worth six times as much. Farmers tend to live in rural areas (you know, out in the farmland) where costs are lower, and they can often deduct their utility bills as business expenses. Curiously, farmers also tend to purchase less food than non-farmers. Furthermore, for a mere $4 billion, we could guarantee every full-time farmer in the country a minimum income that's 185 percent above the poverty level. (In addition, they could make money on the side by, say, farming). Instead, we spend $12 billion -- and another $30 billion on farm subsidies. Where does that money go? In 2002, 13 companies received more than $2 million each, with several Fortune 500 companies on the farming dole. Between 1995 and 2002, over $2 million in subsidies went to five congressmen and four senators, five of whom just happen to have a day job on the agricultural committees of their respective legislative bodies. Other subsidies go to such poverty-stricken farmers as David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, and Sam Donaldson. Didn't you always wonder how those gentlemen could afford modern life without a little help from the taxpayers? Well, now you know, and you also know how they can afford to be so ambivalent about tax cuts. Federalist Patriot, 11 Feb 2005(http://FederalistPatriot.US)
The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale. Arthur C. Clarke, author
The best way to put more money in people's wallets is to leave it there in the first place. Edwin Feulner (1941- ) Founder and President of the Heritage Foundation
The big difference between the mob and the government is that when the mob has collected what you owe them, they leave you alone. The government doesn't. Rush Limbaugh, 24 May 2011
The blame for [the national debt] lies with the Congress and the President, with Democrats and Republicans alike, most all of whom have been unwilling to make the hard choices or to explain to the American people that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Warren Rudman (1930- ) US Senator
The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance. Cicero, 55 BC
The choice before us is clear. I strongly feel that the great majority of Americans believe that nothing would better encourage economic growth than leaving more money in the hands of the people who earn it. It's time to stop stripping bare the productive citizens of America and funneling their hard-earned income into the Federal bureaucracy. ... Americans have always been prepared to pay their fair share, but today they should make it clear to all elected officials that government has gone beyond its bounds and that the people will not tolerate [an] ever-increasing tax burden. Ronald Reagan, US President
The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful. Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933), 30th US President
The current tax code is a daily mugging. Ronald Reagan
The Declaration of Independence, the words that launched our nation -- 1,300 words. The Bible, the word of God -- 773,000 words. The Tax Code, the words of politicians -- 7,000,000 words -- and growing! Steve Forbes
The deficit doctors have their scalpels out all right, but they're not poised over the budget. That's as fat as ever and getting fatter. What they're ready to operate on is your wallet. Ronald Reagan
The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution. Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
The first nine pages of the Internal Revenue Code define income; the remaining 1,100 pages spin the web of exceptions and preferences. Warren G. Magnuson, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations
The good news is that, according to the Obama administration, the rich will pay for everything. The bad news is that, according to the Obama administration, you're rich. P. J. O'Rourke
The government cannot give to anyone anything that it does not first take from someone else. Author Unknown
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have,
taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they
have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to
that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get
and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth
nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words,
government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance
auction sale of stolen goods. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
The Government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw
The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. Albert Einstein, physicist
The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. Barry Goldwater, US Senator
The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has. Will Rogers
The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday a record number of Americans paid their taxes online this year. The system still has a few bugs. They haven't yet figured out a way to get the shirt off your back through the telephone wire. Argus Hamilton, Apr 2005
The IRS is an extraordinary example of the end justifying the means. The means of this agency is growth. It is interesting that the revenue officers within the IRS refer to taxpayers as 'inventory'. The IRS embodies the political realities of the selfish human desire to dominate others. Thus the end of this gigantic pretense of officialdom is power, pure and simple. The meek may inherit the earth, but they will never receive a promotion in an agency where efficiency is measured by the number of seizures of taxpayers' property and by the number of citizens and businesses driven into bankruptcy. George Hansen, Congressman and author To Harass Our People
The more money government spends, the less power and control individuals have over their own lives. Richard Viguerie, 10 Oct 2006
The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual.... Business doesn't pay taxes, and who better than business to make this message known? Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business.... If the tax cannot be included in the price of the product, no one along that line can stay in business. Ronald Reagan
The most laughable White House criticism is that tax cuts are a 'free lunch.' The American people's work created that money. Only in Washington could there be a belief that letting people keep more of what they create is a giveaway. Forbes, 26 Aug 1996
The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Spencer Roane, 9 Mar 1821)
The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets. Will Rogers
The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence of government. James Madison, US President
The President says he only wants taxpayers to pay for programs that actually get results. But that's where the real battle may lie because agencies that are already doing the work of the poor now find themselves in the unenviable position of proving that their cause is worth it. CBS reporter Lee Cowan, 2005, with his take on the Bush administration budget
The principle involved here is time-honored and true: and that is -- it's your money. Robert Dole
The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. Thomas Jefferson
The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. Ronald Reagan
The purpose of a tax cut is to leave more money where it belongs -- in the hands of the working men and working women who earned it in the first place. Robert Dole, Barron's, 12 Aug 1996
There are two distinct classes of men... those who pay taxes and those who receive and live upon taxes. Thomas Paine
There is no art which one government sooner learns from another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people. Adam Smith
There is no such thing as a good tax. Winston Churchill
There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as caring and sensitive because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he is willing to do good with others people's money. Well, who isn't? PJ O'Rourke
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him. Robert A. Heinlein
There should be a tax on every man that wanted to get a government appointment, or be elected to office. In two years that tax alone would pay our national debt. Will Rogers (1879-1935)
There's no free ride. Someone always pays and if you don't know who that someone is, it's probably you. Sarah Palin, March 2014
The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Shelton Gilliam, 19 June 1808)
The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical operation of the Government and to restore to the business of the country the money which we hold in the Treasury through the perversion of governmental powers....unnecessary and extravagant appropriations....besides the demoralization of all just conceptions of public duty which it entails, stimulates a habit of reckless improvidence not in the least consistent with the mission of our people or of the high and beneficent purposes of our government. Grover Cleveland
The state cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man. William Graham Sumner, economist
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else. Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) commenting on where the money comes from
The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish. Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801-1850)
The tax code is 10 times the size of the Bible with none of the good news. Paul Ryan, Congressman, March 2014
The tax code is a monstrosity and there's only one thing to do with it. Scrap it, kill it, drive a stake through its heart, bury it, and hope it never rises again to terrorize the American people. Steve Forbes
The tax collector must love poor people, he's creating so many of them. Bill Vaughan
The thing I hate most about taxes is that the more money they take, the more government we get. It's the worst possible trade off imaginable. Frank J. Fleming
The trick is to stop thinking of it as 'your' money. Tax Auditor
The true test is, whether the object be of a local character, and local use; or, whether it be of general benefit to the states. If it be purely local, congress cannot constitutionally appropriate money for the object. But, if the benefit be general, it matters not, whether in point of locality it be in one state, or several; whether it be of large, or of small extent. Joseph Story, US Supreme Court Justice (Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833, p 453)
The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling. Paula Poundstone
The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation. Vladimir Lenin
Three groups spend other people's money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision. Dick Armey
To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical....A wise and frugal government...shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned....Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated....Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands? Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. Thomas Jefferson
To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must take our choice between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our comforts, in our labors and in our amusements. Thomas Jefferson
To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it. Thomas Jefferson, letter to Joseph Milligan, 6 Apr 1816
To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men. Edmund Burke, 18th Century Irish political philosopher and British statesman
To tax the community for the advantage of a class is not protection: it is plunder. Benjamin Disraeli
To the tax office: all is over between us. Please don't attempt to communicate with me again. Ashleigh Brilliant
Under the pretense of organization, regulation, protection, or encouragement, the law takes property from one person and gives it to another. Frederic Bastiat The Law, 1850
Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
Virtually everything is under federal control nowadays except the federal budget. Herman E. Talmadge
We cannot collect enough taxes to catch up with spending! Rick Santelli
(We)...can't just let business as usual go on, and that means something has to be taken away from some people. Hillary Clinton, 4 Jun 2007
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. Ronald Ragan, 28 Mar 1982
We have confused the free with the free and easy. Adlai E. Stevenson
We have the right, as individuals to give away as much of our own money as we please to charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so as to appropriate a dollar of the public money. David Crockett (Not Yours to Give)
We have to build a political consensus and that requires people to give up a little bit of their own...in order to create this common ground. Hillary Clinton, 4 Jun 2007
[W]e have to pass the [trillion-dollar health-care takeover] bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), confirming that too much Botox can kill brain cells
We'll try to cooperate fully with the IRS, because, as citizens, we feel a strong patriotic duty not to go to jail. Dave Barry
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Kercheval, 12 Jul 1816)
We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. Senator Hillary Clinton on raising taxes, June, 2004
[W]e want to do this, change our tax code [aka 'redistribute the wealth']. ... John McCain and, and Sarah Palin, uh, they, they call this socialistic. You know I, I, I don't know when, when, uh, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness. Barrack Obama, during 2008 presidential campaign stop in Florida
What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin. Mark Twain (1902)
When a new source of taxation is found it never means, in practice, that the old source is abandoned. It merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they had one before. Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956)
When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government. Grover Clevelend, US President
When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Benjamin Franklin
When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income. Plato
When you talk about taxing the rich, you're taxing capital, and taxing capital results in damage to more than just the wealthy. Rush Limbaugh
Where is the politician who has not promised to fight to the death for lower taxes- and who has not proceeded to vote for the very spending projects that make tax cuts impossible? Barry Goldwater
Where there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income. Plato
Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? Hmmmm
Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands. Thomas Jefferson (letter to James Madison, 1784)
Would you be willing to give up your favorite federal program if it meant never having to pay the income tax again? Harry Browne
When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it -- without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud -- to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed. Frederick Bastiat, French economist (The Law, p 6)
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Sell not liberty to purchase power. Benjamin Franklin
When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income. Plato
Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents? Peg Bracken
Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass through so many new hands. Thomas Jefferson (Letter to James Madison, 1784)
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a tax code that looked like someone designed it on purpose? George Will
Would somebody explain how you make poor people rich by making rich people poor? How does that happen? Rush Limbaugh, 17 Oct 2008
Year after year, Americans are burdened by an archaic, incoherent federal tax code. [America] needs a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all. George W. Bush, US President
You can talk about "social justice" all you want. But what death taxes boil down to is letting politicians take money from widows and orphans to pay for goodies that they will hand out to others, in order to buy votes to get reelected That is not social justice or any other kind of justice. Thomas Sowell
You say the rich do not pay enough taxes. In 1979 the top one percent of earners paid 19.75 percent of income taxes. Today they pay 36.3 percent. How much is enough? George Will, 2004
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