“Whether it's a penalty or a tax, it's all one in the same. It's coming out of somebody's hard-earned money in their pocketbooks and that's the point. So in some ways, to me, it's a distinction without a difference.” WayHardDifferencesTaxesDistinctionComing OutPenaltiesPocketbooks Author:Mike Lee
“The economy is still substantially that of the fur trade, still based on the same general kinds of commercial items: technology, weapons, ornaments, novelties, and drugs. The one great difference is that by now the revolution has deprived the mass of consumers of any independent access to the staples of life: clothing, shelter, food, even water. Air access remains the only necessity that the average user can still get for himself, and the revolution has imposed a heavy tax on that by way of pollution. Commercial conquest is far more thorough and final than military defeat.” WayKindStillsWaterDifferencesTechnologyEconomyAirMilitaryRevolutionDrugTaxesWeaponsMassIndependentRemainsTradeFinalsDefeatAverageHeavyAccessConsumersClothingsUsersPollutionShelterConsumerismConquestItemsDeprivedNoveltyFurThoroughOrnamentsOverconsumptionStaples Book:The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture Source: The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture
“By the year 1982 the graduated income tax will have practically abolished major differences in wealth.” YearsDifferencesWealthTaxesMajorsIncomeIncome Tax Author:Irwin Edman
“A state is absolute in the sense which I have in mind when it claims the right to a monopoly of all the force within the community, to make war, to make peace, to conscript life, to tax, to establish and disestablish property, to define crime, to punish disobedience, to control education, to supervise the family, to regulate personal habits, and to censor opinions. The modern state claims all of these powers, and, in the matter of theory, there is no real difference in the size of the claim between communists, fascists, and Democrats.” MindWarRealMatterStatesForceCommunityDifferencesOpinionModernCrimeTheoryHabitTaxesClaimsAbsolutesPropertyDemocratSizeCommunistMonopolyDisobedienceFascistsMaking Peace Book:A Preface to Morals Source: A Preface to Morals
“I find it remarkable that virtually all of the large difference in labor supply between France and the United States is due to differences in tax systems. I expected institutional constraints on the operation of labor markets and the nature of the unemployment benefit system to be more important. I was surprised that the welfare gain from reducing the intratemporal tax wedge is so large.” ImportantStatesDifferencesUnitedUnited StatesTaxesBenefitsGainsEconomicsLaborDuesExpectedFranceOperationsWelfareRemarkableUnemploymentReducingConstraintsWedgesTax SystemUnemployment Benefits Author:Edward C. Prescott
“Is money money or isn't money money. Everybody who earns it and spends it every day in order to live knows that money is money, anybody who votes it to be gathered in as taxes knows money is not money. That is what makes everybody go crazy.... When you earn money and spend money every day anybody can know the difference between a million and three. But when you vote money away there really is not any difference between a million and three.” KnowsOrderThreeDifferencesMoneyMillionsCrazyTaxesVote Author:Gertrude Stein
“If you look at the performance of the zero-income-tax-rate states and the highest-income-tax-rate states, I believe a large amount of their difference is due to taxes. Not only is it true of the last decade, but I took these numbers back 50 years. And, there's not one year in the last 50 where the zero-income-tax-rate states have not outperformed the highest-income-tax-rate states.” IfsYearsBelieveLooksStatesLastsI BelieveDifferencesNumbersAmountTaxesHighestPerformancesRateDuesDecadesIncomeZeroIncome Tax Author:Arthur Laffer
“There are several states that move from Karl Marx-like policies to Adam Smith-like policies and back again in a weekend. So for the states with huge volatility in their income tax policies over time, the differences in growth rates in those periods are really amazingly consistent with tax rates really mattering.” StatesMovingGrowthDifferencesPolicyHugePeriodsTaxesRateIncomeConsistentWeekendAdamIncome TaxBack AgainReally AmazingVolatility Author:Arthur Laffer
“The IRS sent back my tax return saying I owed $800. I said If you'll notice, I sent a paper clip with my return. Given what you've been paying for things lately, that should more than make up the difference.” IfsShouldSaidGivenDifferencesReturnTaxesPaperIrsClipTax ReturnsPaper Clips Author:Emo Philips
“It makes no difference to a widow with her savings in a 5 percent passbook account whether she pays 100 percent income tax on her interest income during a period of zero inflation or pays no income tax during years of 5 percent inflation. Either way, she is 'taxed' in a manner that leaves her no real income whatsoever. Any money she spends comes right out of capital. She would find outrageous a 100 percent income tax but doesn't seem to notice that 5 percent inflation is the economic equivalent.” WayYearsRealSeemsInterestDifferencesPayEconomicPeriodsTaxesPercentAccountsIncomeSavingZeroInflationSavingsOutrageousWidowsIncome Tax Author:Warren Buffett
“If you're going to buy something which compounds for 30 years at 15% per annum and you pay one 35% tax at the very end, the way that works out is that after taxes, you keep 13.3% per annum. In contrast, if you bought the same investment, but had to pay taxes every year of 35% out of the 15% that you earned, then your return would be 15% minus 35% of 15%-or only 9.75% per year compounded. So the difference there is over 3.5%. And what 3.5% does to the numbers over long holding periods like 30 years is truly eye-opening.” IfsWayYearsLongDoeEndsWould BeEyeDifferencesNumbersPayReturnPeriodsTaxesInvestmentWork OutOpeningContrastCompoundsMinusEye Opening Author:Charlie Munger
“There's one big difference between me and the others - I won't take every last dime of the surplus and spend it on tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy. I'll use the bulk of the surplus to secure Social Security far into the future to keep our promise to the greatest generation.” UseBigsLastsSocialDifferencesCuttingGenerationsSecurityPromiseTaxesBenefitsSecureWealthySocial SecurityDimesTax CutsSurplusGreatest Generation Author:John McCain
“We have to band together, but the thing in America is that people are terrified of losing their jobs... Maybe California needs to secede. The only thing that'll make any difference is the money... Tax dollars and losing that amount of money. It's one of the most economically powerful states, isn't it? That's where it hurts.” PeopleNeedsStatesTogetherJobsAmericaDifferencesHurtPowerfulAmountBandTaxesLosingDollarsCaliforniaTerrifiedIt HurtsTax Dollars Author:Cate Blanchett
“The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.” GovernmentDeathDifferencesTaxesInvestingCongressTaxationPolitical WillTax DayRaising TaxesInheritance Tax Author:Will Rogers