Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2026-04-05 Apr 3, 2026Taxes on capital, taxes on labor, inflation, bureaucratic regulation, minimum wage laws, are all - to different degrees - unnecessary slices of the wedge that stand between an individual's effort and reward for that effort.~ Jack KempWhen a government takes over a people’s economic life it becomes absolute, and when it has become absolute it destroys the arts, the minds, the liberties and the meaning of the people it governs.~ Maxwell AndersonThose who support the death tax generally do so not for economic reasons but for political ones. They want to make the tax code 'fair' by taxing away the lifetime wealth of others.~ William Beach 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 “Temporary” taxes, which somehow never get repealed when the emergency passes. 6.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 Previous week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print