Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2026-04-02 Apr 2, 2026The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.~ John Maynard KeynesOur U.S. government each year spends roughly 30 percent more money than it takes in. It took 39 Presidents and 200 years to accumulate a debt of $1 trillion dollars. But it has taken only the past 12 years for that debt to triple to more than $5.9 trillion. Interest payments on the deficit alone add up to more than what our government pays for unemployment compensation, veteran's benefits, postal operations, housing, education, and highways combined. Saddled with this tremendous burden, it is impossible for our businesses to invest, harder for families to afford homes and medical care, and difficult for the United States to play its role in matters of national and international economic security.~ James BilbrayA man must pay the fiddler. In my case it so happened that a whole symphony orchestra often had to be subsidized.~ John Barrymore Apr 1, 2026Capital punishment is when Washington comes up with a new tax.~ Van PanopoulosIf a government were trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of a population, what would it do? 1. The use of indirect rather than direct taxes, so that the tax is hidden in the price of goods. 2. Inflation, by which the state reduces the value of everyone else's currency. 3. Borrowing, so as to postpone the necessary taxation. 4. Gift and luxury taxes, where the tax accompanies the receipt or purchase of something special, lessening the annoyance of the tax. 5. “Temporary” taxes, which somehow never get repealed when the emergency passes. 6. Taxes that exploit social conflict, by placing higher taxes on unpopular groups. 7. The threat of social collapse or withholding monopoly government services if taxes are reduced. 8. Collection of the total tax burden in relatively small increments over time, rather than in a yearly lump sum. 9. Taxes whose exact incidence cannot be predicted in advance, thus keeping the taxpayer unaware of just how much he is paying. 10. Extraordinary budget complexity to hide the budget process from public understanding. 11. The use of generalized expenditure categories to make it difficult for outsiders to assess the individual components of the budget.~ Amilcare PuvianiTaxation of earnings from labor is on a par with forced labor. Seizing the results of someone’s labor is equivalent to seizing hours from him and directing him to carry on various activities.~ Robert Nozick Mar 31, 2026Anyone 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.~ Judge Learned HandTo be GOVERNED is to be kept in sight, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right, nor the wisdom, nor the virtue to do so... To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction, noted, registered, enrolled, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, squeezed, mystified, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, despised, harassed, tracked, abused, clubbed, disarmed, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.~ Pierre-Joseph ProudhonOne of the most insidious consequences of the present burden of personal income tax is that it strips many middle-class families of financial reserves. [It] has made the individual vastly more dependent on the State.~ W. H. Chamberlin Mar 30, 2026[If Parliament] may take from me one shilling in the pound, what security have I for the other nineteen?~ Richard Henry LeeNine tenths of everything is tax. Everything you buy has a complicated history of robbery: land, raw materials, energy, tools, buildings, transport, storage, sales, profits. Don’t forget the share you contribute toward the personal income tax of every worker who has anything to do with the process. Inflation by taxation: there are a hundred taxes on a loaf of bread. What kind of living standard would we enjoy if everything cost a tenth of what it does? What kind of world? Think of your home, your car, your TV, your shoes, your supper—all at a 90% discount! Government can’t fight poverty—poverty is its proudest achievement!~ L. Neil SmithIn general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.~ Voltaire Mar 27, 2026At the start of this nation’s unique experiment with individual sovereignty and limited government, “Taxation without representation is tyranny” was the watchword of the American Revolution. For our Founding Fathers, a level of taxation of only a few cents on a dollar, siphoned off to a faraway and arrogant bureaucracy, was enough to ignite a revolution enough to grab the trusty musket off the wall. Today, in contrast, if we dare to startle the more panicky among us by buying a good rabbit gun, the government’s there at the cash register to check our papers and seize $46 on every $100.~ Ralph ReilandWe 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[T]he income tax is incompatible with a free society. The IRS routinely intrudes on our basic civil liberties and privacy rights -- and its intrusions are getting worse all the time. I want an America where it is no longer the government's business how much money you make and what you do with it.~ Stephen Moore Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print