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"We tax speeders on the highways to get them to stop speeding. We tax cigarettes to get people to stop smoking. Why then do we tax people who earn income? Why do we tax people who employ other people? Why do we tax companies that make wonderful products at low cost and make lots of profits? Don't for a moment think that the same consequences don't befall taxes on income, employment, and profits as they do on speeders and on smokers."

— Laffer, Arthur event 2025

From play_circle Reeves Needs a Lesson on Tax

Context: Extending the incentive logic of 'sin taxes,' speeding tickets and cigarette taxes, to taxes on income, employment, and profit, from the same October 2025 interview on The Daily T podcast. Laffer has repeated versions of this argument in earlier appearances, including a March 2021 interview with The Atlas Society.

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