Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am not sure where the question is in there. But what I would say in response is, with all due respect to my colleague, his numbers are absolutely wrong. I don't have at my fingertips the precise figures, but I can tell you this--by the way, I don't also know what you mean by ``in charge of wealth.'' In terms of who owns wealth or income, the people in the upper brackets pay far more in taxes than the percentage of wealth as a percent of the economy, and I would be happy to supply those figures to my colleague. And there is a difference between income taxes and all other taxes as well, and that chart doesn't suggest which is which. I would be happy, though, to demonstrate to my colleague that whether you are talking about income taxes or all taxes, the upper income level pays far and away the higher percentage than those in the lower portion, and in taxes they pay more than the percentage of wealth that they create or that they earn. The bottom line is that I think anybody making the argument that there is not shared contribution to the revenues of the country by the upper income would be making a false argument. I know that is not the argument my colleague is making, because he agrees with the progressive income tax system and has pointed out that it is progressive even by the numbers you have. But let's do this, because I respect my colleague.…”