David Leonhardt Quotes

Tax reform laws … are like sand castles built next to the ocean. They get washed away.

Why not close loopholes that allow corporations like General Electric and Boeing to go years without paying practically anything in corporate income taxes.

I have long argued that in the modern world, corporation tax has had its day as a major source of tax revenue.

I don't think we should reduce the corporate tax rate.

Taxing companies, particularly successful multinational companies, is one of the most progressive forms of taxation.

Big business never pays a nickel in taxes, according to Ralph Nader, who represents a big consumer organization that never pays a nickel in taxes.

The corporate income tax, in particular, is a tax that puts American corporations at a disadvantage.

Ford's federal income tax rate was just 2.3 percent in 2009 even though it made $3 billion in profits.

Many Republicans have what I call a 'tax-cut syndrome' where they have never seen a tax cut they didn't really like and didn't see a tax increase they didn't hate and do everything they could to block.

Technology giants have taken advantage of tax codes written for an industrial age.

When Mitt Romney says he wants to reform the tax code, hold on to your wallets. We know Mitt Romney never met a tax haven he didn't like. But his new favorite tax haven is actually not the Cayman Islands - its Paul Ryan's budget.

Whoever is for higher taxes, feel free to pay higher taxes.

Business is global. Countries need to react to that; taxes need to be paid where profit arises.

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.

Before Congress cuts funding for Head Start, Social Security, and financial aid for college, we have got to make sure that large, profitable corporations are paying their fair share of taxes.

Scratch any Republican today and all you will hear is “Tax Cuts, Tax Cuts, Tax Cuts.” Its pure demagoguery…. We have demonized taxes.

We can’t write a tax law that their lawyers can’t get around.

The Republican party should be beaten, and badly beaten, if we took the attitude of saying that corporations should not, when they receive great benefits and make a great deal of money, pay their share of the public burden [pay taxes].

You have got to clear up that corporation tax in the modern way has had its day as a major source of revenue, and we have got to find a new system.

Most European countries fund their low corporate taxes with some form of a value-added tax, on consumption rather than income.

The U.S. has fallen behind with tax policies that haven't been updated in a half-century.

For decades, American companies, large and small, have been competing with one hand tied behind their backs thanks to our unfair, outdated tax code.

I have never voted for a tax increase.

Historically, figuring out what to do to the tax code has been almost as contentious a political issue as judicial appointments.

I do think corporations should pay their tax.