SLIDE 1
www.allianceforajustsociety.org www.allianceforajustsociety.org
Ben Henry, Senior Policy Associate ben@allianceforajustsociety.org
www.allianceforajustsociety.org
‘The Only American Principle’
“Mr. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said: ‘Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society.’ One sure way to determine the social conscience of a Government is to examine the way taxes are collected and how they are spent. … To divide fairly among the people the
- bligation to pay for these benefits has been a major part of our
struggle to maintain democracy in America. Ever since 1776, that struggle has been between two forces. On the one hand, there has been the vast majority of our citizens who believed that the benefits of democracy should be extended and who were willing to pay their fair share to extend them. On the other hand, there has been a small, but powerful group which has fought the extension of those benefits, because it did not want to pay a fair share of their cost. … Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the
- nly American principle.”