"Remember back in the nineties, a bunch of Democrats decided to tax luxury items, including yachts? They figured it was not fair that some people could afford yachts, and so since they could, they said, "We're gonna tax the hell out of yachts at the point of sale, 'cause it's not fair. We need to collect revenue from all this!" What happened was that the people who actually build the yachts lost their jobs because people stopped buying them."

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I think if you look at Medicare and Medicaid, the premise was that government needs to provide some assistance to people who aren't able to take care of themselves. I think we all share that goal, Republicans and Democrats. I don't think anybody's gonna go back now and say, Let's abolish, or reduce, Medicare and Medicaid. But as we confront the challenges and the responsibilities of our time - from here on - how do we serve more people or different people who are in need of financial assistance? Just forever having the government expand to address all of that seems unwise.

— Tim Pawlenty