Kinky Friedman Quotes

States should not balance their budgets on the backs of students.

Raising taxes does nothing to allow the economy to recover.

When I see the sort of mindless tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to education, I just think we've got it exactly backward in this country.

All Democrats for the last 30 years have tried to stimulate the economy by giving 'tax cuts' to people who don't pay taxes.

Nothing brings more money to the Treasury of the United States, than investment in education of the American people.

There are 11 states in the United States that in the last 50 years instituted an income tax. So I looked at each of those 11 states over the last 50 years, and I took their current economic metrics and their metrics for the five years before they put in the progressive income tax... Every single state that introduced a progressive income tax has declined as an overall share of the U.S. economy.

Every tax cut I call for is targeted, it's responsible and it is paid for within my balanced budget plan. My tax cuts will not undermine our economy. They will speed economic growth.

When it comes to the budget, we know that we shouldn't be cutting more on core investments, like education, that are going to help us grow in the future. And we've already seen the deficit cut in half. It's going down faster than any time in the last 60 years. So why would we make more cuts in education, more cuts in basic research? Nobody thinks that's a good idea.

Nothing says 'economic growth' like fundamental tax reform.

Raising taxes won't create private sector jobs.

The linkage between tax rates and public services is, if not non-existent, negative.

The 'progressive' tax-and-spend agenda has been put on trial. The policies not only lead to much slower growth but also benefit the rich and politically well-connected at the expense of everyone else.

Only when we have economic growth can we push through fiscal reform.

You don't boost growth by cutting taxes, you do that by giving money to people.

My No. 1 priority is growth in the economy. Tax reform will be our first and most important part of that.

Once the federal dust settles, whether there is little to spend or a lot, education must continue to be our top priority. We can afford nothing less.

Republicans want less taxes so we can create jobs; however, we cannot win by solely focusing on an economic message of lower taxes and smaller government.

In my judgment, we have to avoid, at all costs, tax increases. That would be the worst possible thing to do and will make a bad economy even worse. Beyond that, targeted tax relief should be expanded upon.

Budget deficits are not caused by wild-eyed spenders, but by slow economic growth and periodic recessions. And any new recession would break all deficit records. In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low, and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now.

I do want the tax system to be efficient and be conducive to growth, which it is not.

We should no longer seek to have Budget surplus by end of Parliament. We should avoid tax rises.

We ought to pay down the national debt, ... The American people are tired of people who make promises about cutting taxes that they cannot keep.

I'm looking at a tax process that will allow people to keep more of their money because we know what happens when job creators get to keep more of their money than they're - they have the confidence to go out and spend that money to create jobs that in turn create wealth.

I'll go anywhere and I'll do whatever it takes to get this done. It's too important for Washington to screw this up. Now's the time for us to work on what we all agree to, which is let's keep middle-class taxes low. That's what our economy needs. That's what the American people deserve.

States with high and rising tax burdens are more likely to suffer economic decline; those with low and falling tax burdens are more likely to enjoy strong economic growth.