[ricer1]

"The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing."
J.B. Colbert (1619-1683)

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load on us with perpetual debt. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our comforts, in our labor and in our amusements. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy."
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

[GailA]

"A public debt, is a public curse." James Madison