Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page Jean Baptiste Colbert Quote “The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing.” ~ Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-1693), French economist and Minister of Finance under King Louis XIV Dissent , Politics , Taxation Ratings and Comments Reply jim k, Austin, Tx 4/29/13 That's exactly why we have the tax withheld from each paycheck instead of having it paid once a year all at once. The government bleeds you a little at a time. Reply jim k, Austin, Tx 4/29/13 Reply jim k, Austin, Tx 4/29/13 This is known as the withholding tax and came about as a means to finance WW2. It was supposed to end after the war but it worked so well for the government that they just forgot to cancel it. It's like robbing you each paycheck instead of once on April 15th. Reply Mike, Norwalk 4/29/13 jim, said well. Ahh yes larceny taken to an art form. Reply E Archer, NYC 4/29/13 Taxation in a nutshell. ;-) The next thing to do is to convince the goose that he needs no feathers at all. Reply bmw, Andrews 5/4/13 Taxation is robbery without a gun Reply J Carlton, Calgary 5/5/13 Actually Andrews...it IS robbery with a gun. Try not paying the property taxes levied on you...eventually you will be evicted by people who will bring the police. Why do they bring the police? Because the police bring "guns". Robbery at Gunpoint. Reply cal, Lewisville 4/26/16 Take everything from the people all at once and they will revolt immediately . So they just chip it away from us a little at a time. SaveOk2 SaveOk2 View CommentsClick to view or comment. Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print This Jean Baptiste Colbert quote is found in these categories: Dissent quotes Politics quotes Taxation quotes About Jean Baptiste Colbert Bio of Jean Baptiste Colbert Quotations by Jean Baptiste Colbert Books by/about Jean Baptiste Colbert Jean Baptiste Colbert videos Jean Baptiste Colbert on Wikipedia Astrological chart for Jean Baptiste Colbert