151 Taxes in a Loaf of Bread

In honor of tax day, here’s Ronald Reagan’s great quote on how there are 151 taxes in a mere loaf of bread. It’s from 1975, and I can’t say for sure if the same is true today. But if anything, my guess would be that that number has gone up, rather than down.

The quote is from a very enjoyable and helpful interview in general with Reagan that I just came across (from 1975). I would recommend reading the whole thing.

Here’s the quote I’m referring to:

If people need any more concrete explanation of this, start with the staff of life, a loaf of bread. The simplest thing; the poorest man must have it. Well, there are 151 taxes now in the price of a loaf of bread — it accounts for more than half the cost of a loaf of bread. It begins with the first tax, on the farmer that raised the wheat. Any simpleton can understand that if that farmer cannot get enough money for his wheat, to pay the property tax on his farm, he can’t be a farmer. He loses his farm. And so it is with the fellow who pays a driver’s license and a gasoline tax to drive the truckload of wheat to the mill, the miller who has to pay everything from social security tax, business license, everything else. He has to make his living over and above those costs. So they all wind up in that loaf of bread. Now an egg isn’t far behind and nobody had to make that. There’s a hundred taxes in an egg by the time it gets to market and you know the chicken didn’t put them there!

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April 15, 2009 | Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments 

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4 Responses to “151 Taxes in a Loaf of Bread”

  1. Craig T Nelson - Im Not Going to Pay Tax Anymore - Page 2 - U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum on May 30th, 2009 9:04 am

    [...] because it’s built into the price – corporate taxes, tariffs, fuel taxes on goods being transported,etc, etc, etc. (And that link references a study that misses a ton of regulation costs.) The same applies to [...]

  2. Joe Martinez on March 3rd, 2011 11:14 am

    My stomach has sickend from this whatever its called. Is it because i’m growing older, i’m subject to the stress of taxation? Whats more irritating to me is the fact that the federal, state, city or county tax is not printed on gasoline receipts, nor is there a price per unit at the pump. So many gas stations competing for pennies?,yeah right.

  3. Harvey Cain on October 12th, 2011 12:59 pm

    One of Reagan’s well known factoids. Not true but interesting. I enjoyed listening to the man. He was often entertaining but where he got his facts was anybody’s guess. Once he wrote it down on one of his 3 by 5 cards it was in stone. He reminds me of Michelle Backman. I am still waiting for his trickle down economy to hit the middle class. I have waited for over twenty years. The top 1% 20 years ago had over 33% of the wealth Now they have over 40% of the wealth. And we still don’t have the trickle.

  4. Matt on October 16th, 2011 7:10 pm

    Here’s a summary of why the notion of “trickle down economics” is a straw man of the conservative view and Reagan’s view: http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/economics/1115-the-trickle-down-economics-straw-man.html

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