Henry Morgenthau Jr. Quotes
Victory Tax
The Roosevelt Administration was committed to the principle that all Americans should bear some part of the sacrifice for the war effort, not only those doing the fighting and dying. The name was in itself a bit of propaganda in that at that point in time, American victory was by no means assured.
Henry Morgenthau Jr., 1856–1946, Secretary of the Treasury (Democrat), Name he gave for a 5% surcharge income tax on all earnings over $12 per week, 1941
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He turned out to be very wrong as there were a number of times in American history when there were tax rates in excess of 70 percent, and they were collected.
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}.
Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the United States Secretary of the Treasury during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, while still in charge of the Treasury, he played the central role in financing United States participation in World War II. He also played an increasingly major role in shaping foreign policy, especially with respect to Lend-Lease, support for China, helping Jewish refugees, and proposing (in the "Morgenthau Plan") to prevent Germany from again being a military threat.
