George W. Bush Quotes

71 percent of the American people think that the federal government should take no more than 20 percent of anybody's paycheck no matter how much they make.

Senator McCain believes there ought to be a limit to how much the government can take from anybody, and he believes that today with the federal tax rate at 35 percent that that's more than the government ought to be taking from any individual regardless of how much they make.

It seems difficult to understand that high rates of taxation do not necessarily mean high revenue for the government, and that more revenue may often be obtained with lower tax rates.

President Obama always gives lip service to lowering the corporate tax rate, but he never specifies a particular rate or an overall plan.

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

Putting, say, an 85 per cent income tax rate is unlikely to bring in much revenue.

Raise the taxes, and we find less money in our pockets. Lower the taxes, and we've got more money in those pockets, and we spend it on all kinds of things.

I think it's terrible for people in effect to say that income from investment should be taxed at a much lower rate than income from labor.

I do think there is room at the very top for marginal tax changes.

I'm in favor of doing tax reform, but I think tax reform ought to be revenue neutral as it was back during the [Ronald] Reagan years. We've resolved this issue.

People who earn reasonable amounts are being turned into the anti-Christ. I think 45 per cent tax is a colossal amount to take off somebody, and it is taking away the incentive to earn.

We're the highest taxed nation in the world. When I finish the plan, we'll be among the lower taxed, which is very good. I'd like to be the lowest, but you can't be the lowest.

We have no plans to increase tax at all.

We will have a massive, massive tax increase under Hillary Clinton's plan.

I dislike paying taxes as much as anyone, but yes, taxes are the price of civilization. There is no America without taxes. The question isn't, "Do we want to have taxes?" The question is, "How heavy is the burden, and who bears that burden"?

I suggested that countries with tighter finances think about such a [fuel] tax. We don't have the time at the moment for months of discussion.

It is not Reaganesque to support a tax plan that is Clinton in nature.

I would acknowledge that [Paul] Ryan has some really good ideas about things, and I think they'll get together, like taxes. Larry Kudlow, Stephen Moore, they've been supportive of Ryan's tax view and now they're very supportive of [Donald] Trump's. So I think that's got potential.

I think, again, the overall intellectual structure of the speech is very much consistent with what Donald Trump has been saying on the campaign trail. He's against free trade. He's against immigration. But he has been in favor of tax reform, and he has been afraid of - in favor of developing American energy sources like through fracking or hydraulic fracturing.

I don't think most Americans understand that, for certain very wealthy people, our federal income tax system is a subsidy system that makes them richer.

There is a difference between Senator Obama and Senator McCain. Senator Obama believes that the government ought to be able to take as much as it thinks it needs from anybody.

The whole trouble with the Republicans is their fear of an increase in income tax, especially on higher incomes. They speak of it almost like a national calamity. I really believe if it come to a vote whether to go to war with England, France and Germany combined, or raise the rate on incomes of over $100,000, they would vote war.

I think we need to simplify our tax code, but not as a way of generating revenue, as a way of making our tax code more growth- friendly.

Republicans and Democrats agree that this should be done, $2.5 trillion. I happen to think it's double that. It's probably $5 trillion that we can't bring into our country.

I've never had it so good in terms of taxes. I am paying the lowest tax rate that I've ever paid in my life. Now, that's crazy. And if you look at the Forbes 400, they are paying a lower rate, accounting payroll taxes, than their secretary or whomever around their office. On average. And so I think that actually people in my situation should be paying more tax. I think the rest of the country should be paying less.