The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least amount of hissing...said Jean-Baptise Colbert (1619-83), who, to quote Wikipedia, was "a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV". The quotation is from Murray N. Rothbard's The Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, Volume I (Economic Thought Before Adam Smith), page 246.
That being said, he was also an honest supporter of an all-embracing State, that could choke or support all forms of labour and industry as she liked.
I call him an honest Leftist. If only modern day leftists could state their attitudes as clearly as the power-crazy French politician (who receives undeserved praise in Wikipedia).
