quotations about taxes
Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy.
DANIEL WEBSTER
McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819
If you master your destiny, you will find out there is a destiny tax.
JOSEPH BONKOWSKI
Quote Me
Taxes are collected by governments in order to finance their expenditures and also for purposes of stabilization, distribution and allocation. Particular taxes may cause changes in people's behaviour and have an impact on aggregate demand that, therefore, influences the level of economic activity. Taxes are the instruments through which governments redistribute income and wealth and, moreover, they are an integral part of a government's fiscal policy as they are used to stabilize aggregate demand.
NIKOLAOS KARAGIANNIS
Modern State Intervention
People have come to view all taxes as equally bad. But that's terribly unfortunate. Taxation is a necessary aspect of civilized society. If we want roads, police, ambulances, etc., we have to live with some tax responsibility. The bigger issue is this: what's the most equitable way to do this?
ZACH MITCHAM
"T-SPLOST would be huge boost for Madison County", Madison Journal, June 20, 2017
Our tax law is a 1,598-page hydra-headed monster and I'm going to attack and attack and attack until I have ironed out every fault in it.
VIVIEN KELLEMS
Los Angeles Times, January 26, 1975
Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society.
OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
Compania General de Tabacas de Filipines v. Collector of the Internal Revenue, 1904
Taxes are like the wheat poured into the public hopper; rent, in whatever form, may be described as the flour that comes from the public mill. The privileged man, who is allowed to carry off the grist, eats his bread, as it were, at the taxpayer's expense.
CHARLES BOWDOIN FILLEBROWN
The ABC of Taxation
Recognizing that all taxes have negative effects, a "good" tax is broad-based--it affects everybody. It has a low rate and does not have loopholes. When a tax is broad-based and has a low rate, everyone pays something but no one pays too much.
KATHLEEN VINEHOUT
"Is there a 'good' tax?", Jackson County Chronicle, May 31, 2017
Some taxpayers close their eyes, some stop their ears, some shut their mouths, but all pay through the nose.
EVAN ESAR
20,000 Quips & Quotes
The Founding Fathers realized that "the power to tax is the power to destroy," which is why they did not give the Federal government the power to impose an income tax. Needless to say, the Founders would be horrified to know that Americans today give more than a third of their income to the Federal government.
RON PAUL
speech, April 30, 2009
To please universally was the object of his life; but to tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.
EDMUND BURKE
speech on American taxation, House of Commons, April 19, 1774
Printing money is merely taxation in another form. Rather than robbing citizens of their money, government robs their money of its purchasing power.
PETER SCHIFF
"Peering into the Abyss", March 29, 2009
The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling.
PAULA POUNDSTONE
stand-up routine
The Largest business in the world is collecting U.S. tax dollars.
JOSEPH BONKOWSKI
Quote Me
Many people believe that where taxes are concerned, they are victims, held hostage by an inevitable process that allows them no input, no control. This passive approach becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy; where people believe that they lack control, they seldom try to assert control.
RICHARD CARLSON
The Don't Sweat Guide to Taxes
A tax loophole is something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform.
RUSSELL B. LONG
attributed, Contemporary Tax Practice
Taxation according to income is the most effective instrument yet devised to obtain just contribution from those best able to bear it and to avoid placing onerous burdens upon the mass of our people.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
Message to Congress on Tax Revision, June 19, 1935
Income taxes are responsible for the transformation of the Federal government from one of limited powers into a vast leviathan whose tentacles reach into almost every aspect of American life. Thanks to the income tax, today the Federal government routinely invades our privacy, and penalizes our every endeavor.
RON PAUL
speech, April 30, 2009
The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practiced in mixed governments, is inconsistent with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they are of course advantageous, but if they require an apology, the apology itself implies an impeachment. Why, then, is man imposed upon, or why does he impose upon himself?
THOMAS PAINE
Rights of Man