"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy;
because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation."
by:
Justice John Marshall
(1755-1835) US Supreme Court Chief Justice, Congressman (VA)
Source:
McCullough v. Maryland, 1819
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Reader comments about this quote:
... as well as the power to create something better than what would otherwise exist... most swords have two edges, eh?
 -- Anonymous, Reston, VA US     
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    Better? Examine the government and their programs. Seldom is anything they do better. And then, not much better than had they done nothing.
     -- Joe, Rochester, MI     
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    Therefore, Congress' ability to tax the People directly was strictly limited.
     -- E Archer, NYC     
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    Rope! More rope!!
     -- David L. Rosenthal , Hollywood     
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     -- Mike, Norwalk      
    Watch for the great reenactment of the events of 1776...coming to a town near you!
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    April 15th is the real "April Fools Day'". Don't forget to fill out your confession sheet and send in your "voluntary" tribute to the masters in Washington.
     -- jim k, austin     
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    Thank goodness ours is limited by us the people. We have one of the lowest rates in the industrialized world. Unfortunately it is so low that we don't pay the bills we incur and we send off our sons and daughters to die for us in war but don't even pay for that. What terrible people we really are!
     -- Waffler, Smith     
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    My question is: So what is our government seeking to destroy, especially in the health care and private business fields?
     -- John McClanahan, Memphis, TN     
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    John McClanahan...the answer is "people". American people to be specific. Not only by bureaucratizing a system to be forced on the hard working...but by taxing them out of existence. Global Government will be much more easily acheived once they get those pesky freedom loving armed Americans out of the way....
     -- J Carlton, Calgary     
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    Mr. Obamunist Goodwrench the assassin's Obamunist Care (justified through the power to tax) may be close to the final nail in the economic survival of the once free U.S.A.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    In King V Burwell the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could tax for the purpose of keeping the price of products or services low (ability to subsidize). Obamacare was never addressed specifically as to whether or not it was/is Constitutional. It was the never ending expanse of an unlimited power to tax that was the point of controversy. The occupying statist theocracy infesting this land's high priests in black priestly robes reassured the task masters that they could continue to enslave through the unlimited power to tax. Now, industry is moving from the once free nation at an unprecedented rate while the statist theocracy focuses on the non-sequitur of labor instead of its own dogma of tax and regulation.
     -- Mike, Norwalk     
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    They who are animated by a morbid impulse to acquire power, necessarily are not chary of exploiting the ability to tax as a means of destruction.
     -- Patrick Henry, Red Hill     
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    One star for the accurate quote, a thumbs down for the federalist judge planting socialist seeds of centralizing government. Apposed to States powers of interpose, nullifying unconstitutional law. Apposed to Jefferson our representative Agrarian and the democratic Republican party. Marshall a scum bag supporting greedy banksters, foreign and domestic despots of the industrializing North.
     -- Ronw13, Yachats OR     
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     -- Robert, Somewhere in Europe      
    Trump 2020.
     -- jim k, Austin     
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     -- Mary, MI      
     
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