THE TTALK QUOTES


On Global Trade & Investment
Published Three Times a Week (with occasional bonus quotes) by
The Global Business Dialogue, Inc.
Washington, DC  20006
No.53 of 2020
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2020

Click HERE for yesterday's Nick Giordano quote
on rules-based trade.
LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, AND TAXES

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

Jean-Baptiste Colbert
April 15, 1665 (possibly)
CONTEXT & COMMENT - TAXES
Today’s entry is a short reflection on two days of every year’s calendar: Bastille Day (July 14 – alas, we are day late for that) and tax day in the United States (we wouldn’t want to be late for that.) Traditionally, of course, personal tax filings are due on – or had to be post-marked by – April 15. Like so many things, the virus changed that, and so tax day is July 15.  

As today’s featured quote suggests, we have decided to look to France for tax advice as well as for the patriotic music (see below). In truth we have absolutely no idea when Colbert made this observation, but we assume that the insight guided him for much of his life, and so we have assigned it a date near the beginning of his career. We are skipping over a bit, but in the shorthand of Wikipedia, Colbert served Louis XIV as First Minister of State.

As the author of the French version of mercantilism known as Colbertism, he very much belongs in these trade policy pages where the issue of modern variants of mercantilism are a recurring theme.  Mais ça c’est une autre histoire. 

As for your taxes, if you were due a rebate for 2019, we assume you filed long ago. If you are just getting the paperwork in now. Congratulations! It’s done, and a grateful nation thanks you. 
CONTEXT AND COMMENT - BASTILLE DAY
Now, on to Bastille Day. The French just call Féte nationale , and that is just as well, because the sights and sounds that it calls to mind are a bit of a jumble. Yes, July 14, 1789, is the date for the storming of the Bastille in Paris.  Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” commemorates the July Revolution of 1830.

But our special focus is on the song of the day. La Marseillaise was written in 1792 at the outset of the war with Austria. The composer was Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle , and the man who inspired it, who said the country needed such a song, was Philippe-Fréderic de Dietrich , then the mayor Strasbourg. Tragically and ironically, he was lost to the guillotine during the reign of terror the following year. But it is a great song, and it is universal now. Here is a strong, clear version sung by Mireille Mathieu, which includes English subtitles. (Trigger warning: these are graphic.)
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The question of which version to highlight was not an easy one for us. We stand by our choice, but we recall Bill Lane, a few Bastille Days, back telling us we should have used the Casablanca version. The link to that is here at   Le jour de gloire est arrive!   
SOURCES AND LINKS
Colbert on Taxation is a link to the Wikiquote page with this version of Colbert’s famous observation. This was the source for today’s featured quote. 

Jean-Baptiste Colbert is the Wikipedia entry for this French statesman.  

La Marseillaise is the Wikipedia entry for this anthem. 

William C. (Bill) Lane was for many years the voice of Caterpillar in Washington. He was and is a strong, effective, and engaging advocate for more open trade. 

Paintings. The portrait of Colbert was painted in 1655 by Philippe de Champaigne and is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix was done in 1830 and hangs in the Louvre. The links take you the relevant Wikipedcia pages for these paintings..
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