Political Wisdom on Taxes

Political Wisdom, is that an oxymoron?

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. (Ronald Reagan, 1986)

We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle class people, anyone making over $250,000 is going to pay more. It’s time to be patriotic. (Senator Joseph Biden, September 2008)

When asked what to tell friends whose taxes would be increased, “It’s time to be patriotic, that’s what you say to them.” (Senator Joseph Biden, September 2008)

Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society.  (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.  (Ronald Reagan)

My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody. (Senator Barak Obama, 2008)

The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.  (William Simon)

Did you ever notice that when you put the words "The" and "IRS" together, it spells "THEIRS?"  (Author Unknown)

What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.  (Thomas Paine)

The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away.  (John S. Coleman) 

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. (Louis Blanc, popularized by Karl Marx in The Communist Manifesto)

Death and taxes may be inevitable, but they shouldn't be related.  (Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr.)

The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. (Senator Barry Goldwater)

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.  (Calvin Coolidge)

People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income.  (Robert Half)

We 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. (Winston Churchill)

I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents... (James Madison)

To lay with one hand the power of government on the property of the citizen, and with the other to bestow it on favored individuals .... is none the less robbery because it is .... called taxation. (US Supreme Court in Loan Association v. Topeka, 1874)

This [preparing my tax return] is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher. (Albert Einstien)

There is no such thing as a good tax. (Winston Churchill)

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. (Albert Einstein)

It would be a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income. (Benjamin Franklin)

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.  (Ronald Reagan)

The same prudence which in private life would forbid our paying our own money for unexplained projects, forbids it in the dispensation of the public moneys. (Thomas Jefferson)

If you would not confront your neighbor and demand his money at the point of a gun to solve every new problem that may appear in your life, you should not allow the government to do it for you. (William E. Simon)

People who relieve others of their money with guns are called robbers. It does not alter the immorality of the act when the income transfer is carried out by government. (Cal Thomas)

And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. (John F. Kennedy)

I think of lotteries as a tax on the mathematically challenged. (Roger Jones)

Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes. (Benjamin Franklin)

A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money. (Senator Everett Dirksen)

How many zeros in a billion? This is too true to be funny.

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

1.  A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
2.  A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
3.  A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
   
4.  A billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet.
5. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
   

While this thought is still fresh in our brain... let's take a look at New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D) is presently asking Congress for 250 BILLION DOLLARS to rebuild New Orleans.  Interesting number... what does it mean?

1. Well... if you are one of the 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, and child) you each get $516,528.
   
2. Or... if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets  $1,329,787.
   
3. Or... if you are a family of four... your family gets  $2,066,012.
   

Washington, D. C <> Are all your calculators broken??" (Pastor Paul)

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