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The Laffer Curve, Before Art Laffer Discovered It: "David Hume had the right idea in 1756. Exorbitant taxes, like extreme necessity, destroy industry by producing despair; and even before they reach this pitch, they raise the wages of the labourer and manufacturer, and heighten the price of all commodities. An attentive disinterested legislature will observe the point when the emolument ceases, and the prejudice begins. But as the contrary character is much more common, ’tis to be feared that taxes all over Eurpoe are multiplying to such a degree as will entirely crush all art and industry; tho’ perhaps, their first increase, together with other circumstances, might have contributed to the growth of these advantages. That’s an excerpt from Hume’s essay Of Taxes, cited in Jude Wanniski’s excellent book The Way the World Works (1978) and quoted by me today for no apparent reason."