On the recordJanuary 1, 1791
If any credit is given, it is to the disposition of the people to pay the tax, and not to the government, which lays it on.
Said by
Thomas Paine
Source
gutenberg.orgThomas Paine: “If any credit is given, it is to the disposition of the people to pay the tax, and not to the government, which lays it…”
Editor's note · Context
Paine argues in "Rights of Man" that the real credit in a nation's financial system rests with the people's willingness to pay taxes, not with the government itself.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
Jan 1, 1791
He writes neither in the character of a Frenchman nor an Englishman, but in the fawning character of that creature known in all countries, and a friend to none--a courtier.
Jan 1, 1791
The animosity of the English nation, it is very well remembered, ran high; and, had the true principles of Liberty been as well understood then as they now promise to be, it is probable the Nation would not have patiently submitted to so…
Jan 1, 1791
Burke's Book is easily accounted for.--When a man in a wrong cause attempts to steer his course by anything else than some polar truth or principle, he is sure to be lost.
Jan 1, 1791
But the spirit of the nation was not to be overcome, and it was so fully sensible of the strong ground it had taken--that of withholding taxes--that it contented itself with keeping up a sort of quiet resistance, which effectually…