Authors:

Progressive Taxation Quotes

I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in . . . a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, . . . increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.

I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in . . . a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, . . . increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate.

Theodore Roosevelt
Believe, Progressive Taxation, Political
Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge (2017). “The Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt”, p.3154, Madison & Adams Press

No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.

Theodore Roosevelt
Men, Progressive Taxation, Dollars
Theodore Roosevelt (2014). “Selected Speeches and Writings of Theodore Roosevelt”, p.117, Vintage

The liberals who demanded equality of taxation on behalf of the poor, for instance, did not imagine that they would obtain progressive taxation to the disadvantage of the well-off, and that they would end up with an arrangement in which taxes are voted by those who do not pay them.

Vilfredo Pareto
Philosophy, Progressive Taxation, Political

Progressive taxation of income and profits means that precisely those parts of the income which people would have saved and invested are taxed away

Ludwig von Mises
Mean, Progressive Taxation, People
Ludwig Von Mises (2006). “Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow”, p.84, Ludwig von Mises Institute

The philosophy underlying the system of progressive taxation is that the income and wealth of the well-to-do classes can be freely tapped. What the advocates of these tax rates fail to realize is that the greater part of the incomes taxed away would not have been consumed but saved and invested.

Ludwig von Mises
Philosophy, Progressive Taxation, Class
Ludwig von Mises (2015). “Middle of the Road Policy Leads to Socialism”, p.32, Ludwig von Mises Institute

It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

Adam Smith
Progressive Taxation, Rich, Economics
Adam Smith (1827). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.355

The U.S. is the country that invented progressive taxation of income and of inherited wealth in the 1910s and 20s.

Thomas Piketty
Country, Progressive Taxation, Income
"Economist says U.S. inequality reaching "spectacular" heights". Interview with Alain Sherter, www.cbsnews.com. June 5, 2014.

Taxes are necessary. But the system of discriminatory taxation universally accepted under the misleading name of progressive taxation of income and inheritance is not a mode of taxation. It is rather a mode of disguised expropriation of the successful capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Ludwig von Mises
Successful, Progressive Taxation, Names

For a very small expence the public can facilitate, can encourage, and can even impose upon almost the whole body of the people, the necessity of acquiring those most essential parts of education.

Adam Smith
Progressive Taxation, People, Essentials
Adam Smith, William Playfair (1811). “An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations”, p.214

The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities.

Adam Smith
Government, Progressive Taxation, Support
Adam Smith (1778). “An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”, p.425

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the greater part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess ... It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion.

Adam Smith
Vanity, Progressive Taxation, Luxury

You May Also Like: