Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2026-04-07 Apr 7, 2026The apportionment of taxes on the various descriptions of property is an act which seems to require the most exact impartiality; yet there is, perhaps, no legislative act in which greater opportunity and temptation are given to a predominant party to trample on the rules of justice. Every shilling which they overburden the inferior number is a shilling saved to their own pockets.~ James MadisonHistorians and economists are very good at creating and perpetuating myths that justify increasing the power placed in the hands of government.~ Reuven BrennerThe Constitution prohibits any direct tax, unless in proportion to numbers as ascertained by the census..... [and] ... prohibits Congress from laying a direct tax on the revenue from property of the citizen without regard to state lines...~ United States Supreme Court Apr 6, 2026Thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find - nothing.~ AesopOur practical choice is not between a tax-cut deficit and a budgetary surplus. It is between two kinds of deficits: a chronic deficit of inertia, as the unwanted result of inadequate revenues and a restricted economy; or a temporary deficit of transition, resulting from a tax cut designed to boost the economy, increase tax revenues, and achieve -- and I believe this can be done -- a budget surplus. The first type of deficit is a sign of waste and weakness; the second reflects an investment in the future.~ John F. KennedyThe study of money, above all other fields in economics, is one in which complexity is used to disguise truth or to evade truth, not to reveal it.~ John Kenneth Galbraith 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 Previous week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print