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« He's Eaten His Last Purple Person | Main | Cheap Satellites Follow Up »

Maybe General Clark Was Right

I've been digging around, and found some quotes to back him up. I can't find any actual cites for them, though...

"GIVE me a progressive, achievement-punishing income tax, or give me death!"

-- Patrick Henry

"HAPPINESS, moral duty, and a progressive income tax are inseparably connected."

-- George Washington

"I only regret that I have but a small percentage of my income to give for my country."

-- Nathan Hale

"WHEN in the course of Human Events, it becomes necessary to fund a Welfare State, he that has the most to give, should provide the greatest proportion of his Income."

"THE Tree of Liberty is a fragile one. Its Roots must occasionally be watered by soaking the Rich."

-- Thomas Jefferson

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The wealthy summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country, by refusing to pay their fair, high share of taxes."

-- Tom Paine

"THE advancement and profusion of an extremely progressive income tax is the only guardian of true liberty. "

-- James Madison

And of course, they all inspired that other great philosopher in the next century, who said "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

Posted by Rand Simberg at September 18, 2003 02:22 PM

Comments

Rand --

Encore!! Encore!!

Posted by Michael M at September 19, 2003 05:44 AM

Bravo!

Posted by David Perron at September 19, 2003 09:48 AM

Rand,

Didn't the White House, I mean some guy in Canada, call you with those quotations?

Posted by Kevin Murphy at September 19, 2003 11:06 AM

If we are not all taxed together, we will surely be taxed separately.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Posted by Joshua Chamberlain at September 19, 2003 12:02 PM

I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study progressive taxation.
-John Adams

Or perhaps Clark was digging into his military history:

WE have not yet begun to tax the wealthy!
-John Paul Jones

Posted by some random person at September 19, 2003 09:15 PM

perhaps Churchill said it best,
"...never have so many owed so much to so few." No paraphrasing necessary, just rearranging of subject.

Posted by Steve at September 21, 2003 07:58 AM

"The essence of democracy in not the will of the majority, unless of course they want to tax the hell out of rich people, in which case I guess it's all good."

-- T. Jefferson

Posted by paul at September 24, 2003 12:45 PM

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." was actually originally coined in early 19th-c. France, and then popularized by Proudhon, not by Marx. Marx didn't pick it up until later. [link]

Barlett's quotations credits Proudhon, IIRC.

I wouldn't make the point, except that sloppiness in posts deliberately mocking errors is a little more egregious.

Posted by Andrew Edwards at September 24, 2003 12:51 PM

We have met the goods of the wealthy, and they our ours.

Posted by John Strom at September 24, 2003 01:05 PM

Actually, Tom Paine did advocate a progressive income tax, shading right up to a 100% rate. He didn't see how anyone could possibly need more than, IIRC, £20K a year. Any ideas on how much that is in today's money? I'd think it's at least several million dollars.

You can read all about it at the end of Rights of Man.

Posted by at September 24, 2003 01:19 PM

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" was directly inspired by the Bible.

Acts 2:44-45

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

I bring this up for no particular reason.

Posted by Monkeyshines at September 24, 2003 01:20 PM

Then, there's the dying words of James Lawrence during the War of 1812:

"Don't Give Up The Progressive Income Tax!"

Posted by Tony at September 24, 2003 01:59 PM

Remember the Progressive Income Tax

Posted by PJ at September 24, 2003 04:28 PM

I think Wesley Clark remembers Churchill's quote as:
"Never have so few owed so much to so many".

Posted by Randall Parker at September 24, 2003 04:32 PM

The words of Acts 2:44-45 describe a situation that was voluntary for all who participated. No one was compelled to join, or participate.

While I think that's an ideal situation, I hardly think it applies to the situation of taxation by a government.

Posted by Aaron Mildenstein at September 24, 2003 04:41 PM

...or Jonathan Edward's great colonial sermon "People in the Highest Quintile of Income in the Hands of An Angry God."

Posted by Village Idiot at September 24, 2003 04:41 PM

Ask not what you can do for your country...ask what your country can do for you.

~John F. Kennedy

Posted by Garth Eisenbeis at September 24, 2003 04:42 PM

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are to be taxed progressively.

Posted by Tim at September 24, 2003 04:56 PM

"A house untaxed cannot stand."

"The chief business of America is taxing the rich."

"The only thing we have to fear is rich people not getting taxed enough."

Posted by at September 24, 2003 06:27 PM

"A house untaxed cannot stand."

"The chief business of America is taxing the rich."

"The only thing we have to fear is rich people not getting taxed enough."

Posted by at September 24, 2003 06:36 PM

Whoso would be a man, must be taxed progressively.

Thoreau.

Posted by Motown at September 24, 2003 06:42 PM

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan for not having a sufficiently progressive income tax.

Posted by Ray Pierce at September 24, 2003 07:21 PM

"The only thing we have to fear is... an unprogressive tax itself."

--F.D.R.

Posted by Dan at September 24, 2003 07:43 PM

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither non-progressive nor low taxation
"
--Ben Franklin, 1759

Posted by Dan at September 24, 2003 07:53 PM

I think, therefore I am progressively taxed.

-Lescartes (tee-hee)

Posted by Monk at September 24, 2003 07:55 PM

Whew... I though General Clark didn't know what he was talking about. I feel better now, knowing that this economic genius will be President in 2005.

Posted by Tim Rogers at September 24, 2003 08:34 PM

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this non-progressive tax!

--Ronald Reagan
Remarks at the Brandenburg Gate
West Berlin, Germany
June 12, 1987

Posted by Tim at September 24, 2003 08:45 PM

These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped impose a progressive tax.

--Ronald Reagan
Remarks at the U.S. Ranger Monument
Pointe du Hoc, France
June 6, 1984

Posted by Tim at September 24, 2003 08:48 PM

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall ensure a progressive income tax.

Shakespeare - Henry V, Act Iv, Scene III

(OK, OK, so it's English... but so were the Founders, basically)

Posted by Russ at September 24, 2003 10:22 PM

No taxation without redistribution!

Posted by at September 24, 2003 10:54 PM

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and progressively taxed.

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all be regressively taxed.

Where liberty dwells, there is progressive taxation.

-- Benjamin Franklin

And who can forget these stirring words?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Progressive Taxation.

Posted by Ray Pierce at September 25, 2003 08:01 AM

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampl'ing out the vintage where the flat-tax rates are stored. . .

- Julia Ward Howe

Posted by at September 25, 2003 08:40 AM

Progessive taxation must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.

John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765

Posted by kccooper at September 25, 2003 10:28 AM

Here is a few *real* quotes from Jefferson on the progressive taxation issue:

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."

--Thomas Jefferson (letter to Madison, 1785)

"We are all the more reconciled to the tax on importation, because it falls exclusively on the rich...In fact, the poor man in this country who uses nothing but what is made within his own farm or family, or within the United States, pays not a farthing of tax to the general government...the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone..."

--Thomas Jefferson (letter to Gen. Kosciusko, 1811)

Posted by PJ Doland at September 25, 2003 01:00 PM

Shakespeare is actually full of gems like these.

"The first thing we do, let's progressively tax all the rich people."

"A progressive tax! A progressive tax! My kingdom for a progressive tax!"

"Lord, what fools these flat-taxers be!"

"What is in a tax? A 90% bracket by any other name would raise revenue as sweetly."

"Get thee to H&R Block."

Posted by McGehee at September 25, 2003 05:50 PM

Veni, vidi, taxi. (I came, I saw, I progressively taxed.)

Julius Caesar.

Posted by L Savage at September 25, 2003 11:41 PM

"Sometimes even a cigar must be the subject of a progressive tax."

Freud

"Progressive taxation is evolutionary."

Darwin

"Jack & Jill went up the Hill to pass a progressive tax."

Anon

"To boldly progressively tax where no man dared to progressively tax."

Capt Kirk

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this progressive tax from day to day...."

Shakespeare

"I invented the progressive tax."

A. Gore

"No more progressible taxation."

G. Bush

"There never was a good war or a bad tax."

B. Franklin

"The progressive tax is the superlative tax."

Jesse Jackson

"I only regret that I have one progressive tax to gvive for my country."

N. Hale

Posted by TomCom at September 26, 2003 03:19 AM

In all seriousness, Paine's Rights of Man actually includes tax bracket tables that put even FDR to shame.

Posted by PJ Doland at September 26, 2003 12:01 PM

Yes, but Paine was more of a rabble rouser than a founder, in the sense of providing guiding principles to the Declaration and Constitution. I really just threw his "quote" in for fun.

Posted by Rand Simberg at September 27, 2003 09:31 AM

What about the **real** Jefferson quotes above. especially the claim that:

"We are all the more reconciled to the tax on importation, because it falls exclusively on the rich...In fact, the poor man in this country who uses nothing but what is made within his own farm or family, or within the United States, pays not a farthing of tax to the general government...the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone"

Posted by PJ Doland at September 27, 2003 09:45 AM

"Run ! Run Screaming ! ! "

~ me

Posted by Claire at September 28, 2003 01:52 PM

"Life, liberty, & the pursuit of progressive taxation."

Jefferson

"Life, health, liberty, & progressive taxation."

Locke

TomCom

Posted by TomCom at September 28, 2003 02:40 PM

In the words of no one particular, "what crap!" Get your voter registration cards ready!!! This is what resides in Congress.

Posted by Texane at September 29, 2003 05:08 PM

Whew. Thanks. I needed the laugh more than you know.

Posted by zombyboy at September 30, 2003 06:33 PM

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions or property in geometrical progression as they rise"
-Thmomas Jefferson

BTW, thats not a made up quote, thats a real statement by TJ

Posted by liverleef at November 20, 2004 11:26 AM


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