… is from page 108 of Deirdre McCloskey’s 1993 collection, Second Thoughts: Myths and Morals of U.S. Economic History; specifically, it’s from Chapter 13, which is Benjamin Baack’s and Edward Ray’s essay “The Income Tax: An Idea Whose Time Has Gone and Come?”:
An analysis of federal finance during the nineteenth and twentieth suggests that the actions of special interest groups have played a significant role in expanding federal spending relative to the GNP. Deficits are the result of the successful efforts of these groups to capture resources without paying higher taxes.
