Taxing Truths

Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain


I 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


A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw


A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. -- G. Gordon Liddy


Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. -- James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)


Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. -- Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J. Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)


Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. -- P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian


Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)


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)


I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers


If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free. -- P.J. O'Rourke


If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal.If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative.If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist. -- Joseph Sobran, former Editor of the National Review (1995)


In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from some of the citizens to give to others. -- Voltaire (1764)


Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. -- Pericles (430 B.C.)


No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session. -- Mark Twain (1866)


Talk is cheap except when Congress does it. -- (Unknown)


The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a healthy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. -- Ronald Reagan


The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill


The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin. -- Mark Twain


The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. -- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)


There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress. -- Mark Twain


What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. -- Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)