The Best of Notable Quotables; December 24, 1990

Vol. Three; No. 26

Jim Florio Tax Advocacy Award



"The overall tax burden for Americans, local, state and federal, is actually quite low....The fact is Americans could pay more taxes and the country wouldn’t go down the tube. Taxpayers don’t believe this because they are being conned by the politicians....The truth is that the United States needs higher taxes and can afford them. Some political leaders are now starting to say that, but until more say it, the country will remain in trouble."

-- Commentator John Chancellor on the NBC Nightly News, April 17.

Runners-Up:

"The fact is that most government spending cannot be cut. The way out of the mess is for the government to raise some money through taxes and at last that’s being done. And there’s encouraging news in the returns from yesterday’s elections. Six states from Massachusetts to California rejected measures designed to limit taxation. Can it be that the great tax revolt of the 1980s is coming to an end? If true, maybe the country can get on with the business of balancing its books in a sensible and logical way."

-- John Chancellor on NBC Nightly News, November 7.

"[Except] for capital gains, it is certain the President won’t mention the T word, and yet taxes are very much at the heart of what all our potential solutions are. How long can both sides pretend that a hike’s not needed?"

-- Bryant Gumbel on Today, January 31.