I don’t go tanning anymore because Obama put a 10 percent tax on tanning. McCain would never put a 10 percent tax on tanning. Because he’s pale and would probably want to be tan. – Nicole Polizzi
We pass bills authorizing improvements and grants. But when it comes time to pay for these programs, we’d rather put the country’s money toward tax breaks for the wealthy than for police officers who are protecting our communities. – David Price
I am not in favour of the takeover of excellent and strategically important British companies by struggling foreign firms whose actions are fuelled by tax avoidance, and who want to asset-strip the intellectual property of the British company and then dismember it. – David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
The Tort Tax adds to the cost of everything we buy because businesses and manufacturers have to cover themselves and their employees – just in case they get sued by a greedy personal injury lawyer. – Dennis Hastert
One way we gave small businesses more money to invest was by extending tax provisions on expensing. This allows businesses to immediately write off things like equipment, without being burdened by depreciation requirements. – Dennis Hastert
Conventional wisdom on government’s role in inequality often has it backwards. Tax reforms have resulted in a more progressive federal income tax; government transfer payments have become less progressive. – Paul Ryan
Massive debts owed to foreign creditors weaken our global influence and threaten high inflation and steep tax increases for our children and grandchildren. – Evan Bayh
It’s a social contract we make. We’re willing to give up certain things. We give you the right to tax us. We give you the right to lock us up. We give you the right to put us on surveillance, search our homes, whatever and, in exchange, we get a functioning society that keeps us relatively safe, and that’s the tradeoff we make. – Matt Apuzzo
Why would we want to keep a tax cut that’s failed? Why would we not want to go back to the Clinton tax code? And why would we not want to help every family more with a health-care plan like mine? Let’s help average people. Let’s be Democrats. – Dick Gephardt
We already know that social security is more affordable in Scotland than it is in the rest of the U.K. – spending on social protection takes up a smaller share of our economic output and our tax revenues than is the case in the U.K. as a whole. – Nicola Sturgeon
The stimulus legislation, technically known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was a mixture of tax cuts for families and businesses; increased transfer payments, like unemployment insurance; and increased direct government spending, like infrastructure investment. – Christina Romer
Foreign investors like decisiveness; they like clarity. There isn’t any confusion about Ireland’s corporate tax rate: it is 12.5%. End of story. – Enda Kenny
Italy and France could lop off their excessive wealth through a one-time tax on private wealth. – Edmund Phelps
In a perfect world we would bring corporate tax rates down to 25% or less so we can get competitive in the world economy. Ultimately, I would love to see a flat tax. – Eric Cantor
A salute from this corner to President Bush for saying he was willing to investigate raising or eliminating the cap on salaries subject to the Social Security tax. – Nick Clooney
Even a healthy economy and labor market would have struggled under the additional expenses enacted and proposed in 2009 and 2010 – from healthcare mandates and higher taxes, to carbon cap-and-trade and delay in extending the last decade’s tax reforms. – Elaine Chao
What I want to do is make certain that no one’s taxes go up. Let’s look at cleaning up the tax code. – Marsha Blackburn
In Greece, Italy and, to a lesser extent, France, unsustainable tax cuts and spending sprees added to households’ estimates of their private wealth relative to their wage income. – Edmund Phelps
You don’t get gushers of revenue by raising tax rates. You get it through expansion. – George P. Shultz
It’s common sense to be for middle-class tax cuts and tax cuts on small businesses, to be for not allowing Medicare to be turned into voucher care. – Mark Takano
In a zero corporate tax rate environment, if the private sector doesn’t create tens of millions of jobs, then I don’t know what it takes to create tens of millions of jobs. – Gary Johnson
I have long argued that in the modern world, corporation tax has had its day as a major source of tax revenue. – Nigel Lawson
We will attract more people to Kentucky by lowering our income tax rate. In fact, lowering the income tax rate is the single most important thing we can do to create opportunity. – Ernie Fletcher
Capital available for individuals to start and expand businesses would increase with regulatory and strategic tax reforms, like reducing marginal rates, repealing the alternative minimum tax, and making the U.S. the most welcoming place for employers to relocate and create jobs. – Elaine Chao
Philanthropists today want input into how their monies are being deployed. The big question is, can governments use this insight to sell the rich the idea of paying more tax rather than spend more on charitable giving? – Noreena Hertz
What I usually do is hoard money – I accumulate as much as possible in the fear of not having enough to pay tax. – Mark Billingham