Date: April 7, 1931
Location: Northampton, MA
(Original document available here)
It will do no harm to have a reminder that when the Congress passes laws requiring the expenditure of money the people will have to pay it. When a deficit exists it must be met. Temporary borrowing by the Treasury may take care of it for the present, but finally the taxpayers will come to a day of reckoning.
Raising tax rates does not now seem popular. Imposing a new levy on small incomes is anathema to those who vote large appropriations. Some legislators even boast of supporting an appropriation bills and opposing all tax bills. But people with small incomes will pay indirectly in all they buy or use even if they pay no direct tax. They are the ones who suffer most from government extravagance.
The present high rate of taxes, especially state and local assessments, is one of the main reasons small concerns are closing up and their business is going to chain stores and other large corporations. The overhead of taxes is so large that a small business is at a serious disadvantage. From present appearances it will be a long time before the country will get the encouragement of national tax reduction.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of David McCann who prepared this document for digital publication.