George H. W. Bush Quotes

When you tell the American people, 'Read my lips. No new taxes,' that should mean no new taxes.

Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase.

It is my absolute intent to hold the line on taxes.

There are some Republicans who say that any time you raise new revenue, you have to have a tax cut to match it. I am not one of those Republicans.

Obama broke his no-new-taxes pledge 15 days after he took office when he signed legislation on Feb. 4, 2009 raising the tax on cigarettes 158 percent - 62 cents per pack.

Look, only in Washington is not raising taxes considered a tax cut. Nobody's getting a tax cut here. We're not cutting taxes. We're preventing tax increases from occurring.

When the federal government promises no new taxes, they're promising no new federal taxes.

The easiest votes I ever cast were the votes to cut taxes. The hardest votes I had to cast were to raise taxes.

I've made a promise that taxes would be my last resort on issues.

From an emotional standpoint it's very easy to say don't raise taxes, and no one wants to raise taxes.

When we were at peace, Democrats wanted to raise taxes. Now there's a war, so Democrats want to raise taxes. When there was a surplus, Democrats wanted to raise taxes. Now that there is a mild recession, Democrats want to raise taxes.

Well, the taxes that everyone else is paying are supporting lots of programs that were in place prior to Obama's new spending. So new spending has too be paid for by new taxes, or by eliminating existing tax breaks. And Obama wants that burden to be borne exclusively by the rich.

I think the tax cut is ridiculous but so am I.

As a matter of policy, increasing taxes on the most economically productive group, which already generates 60 percent of the nation's federal revenues, during a sustained period of economic doldrums is a wretched idea.

You don't raise taxes in times of such uncertainty.

GOP candidates routinely sign a pledge never, ever to raise taxes. Democratic candidates aren't even asked to sign a parallel pledge never, ever to cut entitlements.

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.

... with a cash machine like an income tax, the state legislature will go wild and go on a spending spree.

The most equitable way to substantially reduce the deficit is to delay reductions in the top tax bracket for upper-income taxpayers.

I've made a commitment that any tax increase, I'm going to veto. It's the worst thing we could do. We have an amount of money to spend. That's it.

So, for instance, let me make this clear: You know I signed a statement. I will not raise taxes on anybody. I don't want to raise taxes on the American people.

If we lower the payroll tax, will Americans let us raise it again? I don't think so.

I have never voted for a tax increase.

My district has a large number of Independents, if you say anything about a 70 percent tax rate, you lose people right away.

I'm not going to raise taxes.