“Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice
“The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence of government.” — James Madison, U.S. President
“To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.” — Edmund Burke, 18th Century Irish political philosopher and British statesman
“I am proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is – I could be just as proud for half the money.” — Arthur Godfrey, entertainer
“People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women.” — Unknown
“No government can exist without taxation. This money must necessarily be levied on the people; and the grand art consists of levying so as not to oppress.” — Frederick the Great, 18th Century Prussian king
“Like mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten.” — Lord Bramwell, 19th Century English jurist
“The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.” — Arthur C. Clarke
“Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.” — F. J. Raymond
A tax loophole is “something that benefits the other guy. If it benefits you, it is tax reform.” — Russell B. Long
“Few of us ever test our powers of deduction, except when filling out an income tax form.” — Laurence J. Peter
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” — Albert Einstein
“Taxation with representation ain’t so hot either.” — Gerald Barzan
“Where there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.” — Plato
“Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf.” — Will Rogers, humorist
“Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf.” — Will Rogers, humorist
“This is too difficult for a mathematician. It takes a philosopher.” — Albert Einstein, on his tax returns
“The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” — Will Rogers
“Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is quite as satisfying as an income tax refund.” – F.J. Raymond
“How much money did you make last year? Mail it in.” – Proposed simplified tax form, Stanton Delaplane
“What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin.” -Mark Twain
“I want to begin by saying we have had good experience with the Internal Revenue Service; it’s the Internal Revenue Code that doesn’t work.” – Brian Gloe
“Tax reform means, ‘Don’t tax you, don’t tax me. Tax that fellow behind the tree.'” – Russell Long
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always rely on the support of Paul.” – George Bernard Shaw
“The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.” – Will Rogers
“I think the idea that the hedge fund manager gets lower taxes than the taxi driver or the physics professor is insane. The legislators who leave that policy in place are derelict in their duties to be rational and fair. There are plenty of them in both political parties. It’s totally outrageous.”- Charlie Munger
“The only thing that hurts more than paying an income tax is not having to pay an income tax.” – Thomas Dewar
“People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women.” – Unknown
“Income tax returns are the most imaginative fiction being written today.” – Herman Wouk
“Congress can raise taxes because it can persuade a sizable fraction of the populace that somebody else will pay.” – Milton Friedman
“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
“There may be liberty and justice for all, but there are tax breaks only for some.” – Martin Sullivan
“I think of lotteries as a tax on the mathematically challenged.” – Roger Jones
“The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall.” – Denis Healey
“Rich bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others.”
“We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our pride and four times as much by our foolishness.”
“I know all those people. I have friendly, social, and criminal relations with the whole lot of them.”
“If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.”
“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
“The Income Tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.”
“No one can become rich by the efforts of only their toil, but only by the discovery of some method of taxing the labor of others.”
“The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.”–Barry Goldwater
“You must pay taxes. But there’s no law that says you gotta leave a tip.”–Morgan Stanley advertisement
“If you get up early, work late, and pay your taxes, you will get ahead–if you strike oil.”–J. Paul Getty
“The tax code is a monstrosity and there’s only one thing to do with it. Scrap it, kill it, drive a stake through its heart, bury it and hope it never rises again to terrorize the American people.”–Steve Forbes