Besides, we had a large debt, contracted at home and abroad in our War of Independence; therefore the great power of taxation was conferred upon this Government.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Of all the powers conferred upon government, that of taxation is most liable to abuse.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
I therefore declare, that if you wish any remission of the taxation which falls upon the homes of the people of England and Wales, you can only find it by reducing the great military establishments, and diminishing the money paid to fighting men in time of peace.
Taxation is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.
Congress had the opportunity to extend tax relief to working families without increasing the deficit. Instead, we were handed a bill that favors the wealthy and eliminates deductions that benefit the middle class.
In 1828 we raised the duties, on an average, to nearly fifty per cent, when the debt was on the eve of being discharged, and thereby flooded the country with a revenue, when discharged, which could not be absorbed by the most lavish expenditures.
Taxation without representation is tyranny.
We do not commonly see in a tax a diminution of freedom, and yet it clearly is one.
For the first time in history, we declared war without financing it. Americans have not been asked to pay for it through taxes.
We owe the government taxes. We owe our creditors interest. What do these powers owe us?