Jean-Baptiste Colbert Quote

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.


Quoted in: William Sharp McKechnie (1896). The State & the Individual: An Introduction to Political Science, with Special Reference to Socialistic and Individualistic Theories. p. 77


The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to procure the largest quantity of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing.