Bill Bradley Quotes

To me, there are four F's in a good tax system: it ought to be flatter, fairer, finite and family-friendly.

The nation should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose.

Everybody gets ticked off about GE paying no taxes. Look, we have a complicated, convoluted tax system. And only big corporations and wealthy individuals like Warren Buffett can take advantage of it. We need to simplify and flatten the code, get rid of all the loopholes.

I think there's a lot of Democrats that would favor reducing the corporate tax rate as long as we find a way to close loopholes so we have a way to pay for it.

Implementing the so-called 'Buffett Rule' would restore some badly needed fairness to our tax system.

Fundamentally, I've always been a fan of actually looking at our whole state tax system and really figuring out how we reform our tax system so that everyone's paying their fair share but we don't have a lot of nickel and diming with 100 taxes that end up hitting people that maybe can't bear it the most.

I think we should have basically the same tax policy that Germany, Japan, the U.K., everybody else has, which is a tax rate in the mid-20s and no loopholes. Zero. The U.S. has the most antiquated tax system. And that means some people are going to pay more taxes, and some people are going to pay less.

I think you need to have a tax system that basically is flat, fair and simple. And - that you can put on a post card. I mean, even Timothy Geithner could do this one and get it on time.

The tax code is very inefficient. Both the personal tax code and the corporate tax code. By closing loopholes and lowering rates, you could increase the efficiency of the tax code and create more incentives for people to invest.

Now, the president would like to do tax reform, which would obviously lower rates for most people in America and make the tax code fair and get rid of loopholes and special treatment. But absent tax reform, the president believes the right way to get our fiscal house in order is ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.

Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.

Individuals and businesses must participate in a national discussion about a simpler tax system, one that collects sufficient revenue to meet appropriate federal responsibilities, but one resting on a broader, fairer tax base without penalizing saving and investing, the backbone of a strong, decentralized and thriving economy.

People like me, whose income largely comes from dividends, should pay more taxes. The problem is that taxes aren't used efficiently.

What we need to do is replace the entire tax code. I do not think it makes sense to say, 'Let's just grab money from, quote, the wealthy'... The issue is the tax code's rotten and we should start truly over with a simple code that is fair and transparent.

We Liberal Democrats don't believe we should use the tax structure to champion just one type of family.

We need a tax code where everyone pays his fair share.

Making the rich pay the same tax rates on their investment earnings that the rest of us pay on our earnings would be a good start [towards tax reform].

Tax reform shouldn't add one penny to our deficit or to the tax bills of middle-class Americans.

The rationale for eliminating the alternative minimum tax is that such a backup system should not be necessary if the tax code is fundamentally fair and eliminates all the loopholes that made it possible for high-income taxpayers to escape taxation in the first place.

I do see great opportunity to make reforms to our tax code, making it simpler, fairer and removing corporate loopholes.

We need to consider a financial transactions tax. And we need to ask whether the top marginal tax rates are really appropriate, given that the effective tax rates paid by the wealthy are often actually lower than those paid by the rest of us.

Any reductions we have in upper-income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class.

Any reduction in the corporate tax rate must also come with closing loopholes that have allowed the largest businesses in our country to pay less than they owe.

We must have a fair tax in the United States. We have to re-adjust it, we must be fiscally responsible.

By keeping most tax rates at present levels, Obama and the Democrats will claim that they have championed tax cuts for the middle class.