Louis Eisenstein Quotes
Our taxes reflect a continuing struggle among contending interests for the privilege of paying the least.
Louis Eisenstein, Writer, The Ideologies of Taxation, Ronald Press, 1961
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This is the most articulate historical statement of the modern conservative mantra regarding taxes. However, one change has taken place. The words “necessarily” and “often” tend to be left out of the more modern ideological statements. Mellon’s original statement has never really had any politicians or economists who disagreed. Politicians of all economic persuasions have generally accepted the Mellon statement but the extreme conservatives’ creed is that a lowering of taxes always produces more revenue and a tax increase will inevitably lead to greater tax revenue—a position which Mellon never took. Mellon however was very solicitous of the wealthy, felt the welfare of the nation depended on their prosperity, and was a strong advocate of what was later called ‘trickle down’ economics {628592}.
What is interesting is at the time and today there are few politicians who would not agree completely, including all the members of Congress. Yet every word of the absurdly complex and unfair tax law was written and passed by some Congress and signed by some President. Congress could change it any time it wants to. The problem is that ut while all agree that the status quo is terrible, there is no agreement on what the correct solution would be, and any proposed change would be assaulted by the lobbyists of the special interests who benefit from the status quo. In that sense it is just like Health Care Reform. When a change is finally crafted and achieves a majority of Congress, each change has been trashed by so many vested interest that the public is not sure the reform will be better then the terrible system that existed before.
