Edouard Herriot Quotes
An industrial state which was itself a producer would not find itself obliged to demand so much in taxes.
This notion of state owned industries where the profits can pay for some of the costs of operating a government. In modern cases like China, Egypt and Indonesia, the military owned industries the profits of which defrayed the general budget burden. The problem however, has always been that the government tends to give preference to government owned industries in purchases and the lack of competition generally produces inefficient companies over time.
Edouard Herriot, 1872-1957, Premier of France, “The Program of Liberal France”, Foreign Affairs, June 1924
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}.
This inverse relationship between rate of taxation and revenue sometimes is referred to as the Khaldun-Laffer Curve or the Laffer Curve. However, Khaldun appears to by the first to document the relationship, David Hume, Keynes, and others have since. This quotation’s exact source is unknown and may possibly be a bogus quotation as it reflects a classic view of one of the partisan political philosophies. However, there are several references and for now we lean toward accepting it as authentic. Khaldun was one of the world’s greatest polymaths who among his other accomplishments was the “Father of Sociology” and was the leading Islamic intellectual of his era.
This historical quotation is surprising to us over a century later. We are surprised at the very large revenue from the then relatively low tax rates on alcohol and tobacco and many people who did not pay their taxes at the time. Also, the incredibly small appropriation for the military. WWI was only 4 years away. Generally, until the Second World War, the Democratic party did not advocate large military expenditures and the Republicans were more isolationist and opposed almost all defense spending. After WWII, the Republican Party flip flopped and became the champion of military readiness and defense spending.
Édouard Marie Herriot was a French Radical politician of the Third Republic who served three times as Prime Minister and for many years as President of the Chamber of Deputies. He was leader of the first Cartel des Gauches.
