Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I think the question is, when are taxes too high? We have a system in the United States that has made us successful, I think, based on the fact that those that work hard, that save, that learn, that try, that invest, end up better off than those that do not. So when, at what point, are taxes so high that it loses some of the free enterprise motivation that has made us so successful in this country? We are now faced with a dilemma. How can any free nation survive when a majority of its citizens now dependent on government services for so much no longer have the incentive to restrain the growth in government and the growth in taxes? Today the majority of Americans can vote themselves more generous government benefits at little or no cost to themselves, and, as a result, they have little incentive to restrain the growth in taxes. So I think the question one has to ask is, somehow we have to somehow, someplace, come to grips with, at what point do we lose that motivation that has made us great in the first place, and, with our redistribution of wealth, discourage the kind of effort of so many people that are trying to work a little harder and learn a little more and save a little more and invest a little more? Listen to this: 50 percent of Americans now pay less than 4 percent of the total individual income taxes, while the top 5 percent pay most of the individual income taxes.”