Tax Lawyer's Blog

Acting on Emerson’s maxim “next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it” here, in no particular order, are my ten favorite quotes about taxation:

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.  -George Bernard Shaw 

 2. There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for you. -Robert A. Heinlein 

 3. We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -Winston Churchill 

 4. The power to tax is the power to destroy. -John Marshall 

 5. To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. -Thomas Jefferson 

 6. I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any    other men’s rights. -Abraham Lincoln 

 7. Taxes are what we pay for civilized society. -Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

 8. Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose a pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there isn’t even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. - Learned Hand 

 9. The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away. -John S. Coleman

10. Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay. -Milton Friedman

What do you think of these little gems?  Do you have any of your own?  If so, I’d love to hear them.

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