quotations about 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 is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.
TERRY PRATCHETT
Night Watch
We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.
LEONA HELMSLEY
attributed, New York Times, July 12, 1989
The 16th Amendment gives the Federal government a direct claim on the lives of American citizens by enabling Congress to levy a direct income tax on individuals. Until the passage of the 16th amendment, the Supreme Court had consistently held that Congress had no power to impose an income tax.
RON PAUL
speech, April 30, 2009
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
It puzzles me that the well-off complain so much about taxes when they pay so little relative to their wealth.
MOLLY IVINS
Baltimore Sun, September 5, 2002
Every good citizen ... should be willing to devote a brief time during some one day in the year, when necessary, to the making up of a listing of his income for taxes ... to contribute to his Government, not the scriptural tithe, but a small percentage of his net profits.
CORDELL HULL
remarks in the House, Congressional Record, April 26, 1913
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 current tax code is a daily mugging.
RONALD REAGAN
Labor Day address in Independence, Missouri, October 2, 1985
Taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of the world.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
Caesar and Cleopatra
For patriots like me, paying taxes gives a feeling of responsibility, of being part of the fabric of our country, of contributing to the common good.
JOYCE MARCEL
"Life and Taxes", Common Dreams, March 23, 2006
Taxes are the lifeblood of government and no taxpayer should be permitted to escape the payment of his just share of the burden of contributing thereto.
ARTHUR T. VANDERBILT
"Appeal of N.Y. State Realty & Terminal Company", 1956
Every culture has some ritual for joining two people together and making them stay that way, and ours is giving tax breaks.
BAUVARD
Some Inspiration for the Overenthusiastic
If your biggest tax deduction was bail money, you might be a redneck.
JEFF FOXWORTHY
stand-up routine
Taxes are nothing but a game of pick pocket.
JOSEPH BONKOWSKI
Quote Me
I'm proud to be paying taxes to the United States. The only thing is--I could be just as proud for half the money.
ARTHUR GODFREY
attributed, The Executive's Book of Quotations
The best taxes are such as are levied upon consumptions, especially those of luxury; because such taxes are least felt by the people. They seem, in some measure, voluntary; since a man may choose how far he will use the commodity: They naturally produce sobriety and frugality, if judiciously imposed: And being confounded with the natural price of the commodity, they are scarcely perceived by the consumers. Their only disadvantage is that they are expensive in the levying.
DAVID HUME
Essays
There were really only two men I knew who ever got a laugh out of paying their income taxes. One was cheating the government and getting away with it. The other had a sick sense of humor and would probably have set up a concession stand at the Boston Tea Party and sold sugar cubes and lemon slices.
ERMA BOMBECK
At Wit's End
The tax collector must love poor people. He is creating so many of them.
BILL VAUGHAN
attributed, Thoughts for Meaningful Life