The idea that a nation can tax itself into prosperity is one of the cruelest delusions which has befuddled the human mind.

A misquotation by Ronald Reagan in a 9 March 1982 speech, reported in Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, & Misleading Attributions (1989), p. 13-14. In fact, Churchill used a very similar line ("To think you can make a man richer by putting on a tax is like a man think­ing that he can stand in a bucket and lift him­self up by the han­dle.") several times beginning with a speech at Free Trade Hall, Man­ches­ter, 19 Feb­ru­ary 1904.