Fiscal Decision Quotes

I personally don't believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending, either one, until we get this economy off the ground. I'll pay more, but it won't solve the problem.

Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution - except one. We should not - we must not - and I will not - raise taxes.

Tax policy is not about compassion.

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

Now, I do think when we move into 2012 and '13 when, presumably, the economy is on firmer ground, I would allow the tax rates for upper-income individuals to revert back to where they were before the cuts in the 1990s. I think at that point it makes perfect sense.

If you're opposed to the budget I submitted to the General Assembly, you're for a tax increase.

Tax (reform) is ultimately a decision about values.

If the lowest tax rate is the most desirable thing to have, then most people would be living in Mississippi..

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

The easy way out is to increase taxes.

I'm gonna put all my money into taxes. They're sure to go up.

Never before in the history of civilization has there been a tax cut in time of war.

There will not be a billion-shekel cut to education on my watch.

In all modesty, we must admit that governments are not always the best doctors when it comes to diagnosing economic ailments and prescribing the right treatment.

There is one fundamental message that we want to go out from this place to every nook and cranny of our country: There should be no new tax collection without an election.

The question is not whether the nation should reduce current consumption. It should. The question is, Whose consumption should be reduced?

Without the triggers, that tax cut is irreponsible fiscal policy. Eventually, I think that will be the consensus view.

Raising taxes is not a frivolous venture that you do on the editorial page of 'The New Republic,' for god sakes. It's something that you really have to think about and go through carefully.

Raising taxes in an economic downturn is not a good idea.

Cutting budget deficits can never be just an exercise in economics.

If I tax them, in fact, I'm not taxing the capitalists, I am taxing the people who have saved, trusted. It was very controversial, those sorts of things. But finally, it worked out.

I am now being criticized (by the opposition) for being irresponsible for saying 'I will not raise the consumption tax rate while I am in office,' ... But, when my successor does raise the consumption tax rate, it will not be simply a matter of being irresponsible. He will be criticized for raising the tax.

I don't think we should label budgets even before the budget is presented.

If you must call this relief tax, which I have approved to keep the people from starving, "a Hoffman Tax," then I say you should go ahead and do it. I am willing to pay whatever price may be required of me, so far as my personal fortunes are concerned.

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