— Taxes (Federal)

TAXES FOR REVENUE ARE OBSOLETE
— Beardsley Ruml, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, American Affairs, Jan 1946

“Federal taxes can be made to serve four principal purposes of a social and economic character. These purposes are:
1. As an instrument of fiscal policy to help stabilize the purchasing power of the dollar;
2. To express public policy in the distribution of wealth and of income, as in the case of the progressive income and estate taxes;
3. To express public policy in subsidizing or in penalizing various industries and economic groups;
4. To isolate and assess directly the costs of certain national benefits, such as highways and social security.”

Paygo, False Consciousness and the IRS
— Cory Doctorow (@Doctorow) Pluralistic May 17, 2021