Tax Quotations

Tax Quotations

For some pithy comments about taxes by Vernon Jacobs, see Tax Humor.

The legal right of a taxpayer to decrease the amount of what otherwise would be his taxes, or altogether avoid them, by means which the law permits, cannot be doubted. (U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sutherland, Gregory vs. Helvering, 293 U.S. 465, 1965)
Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs so as to make taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor, and do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more taxes than the law demands. Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. ( Justice Learned Hand, U.S. Supreme Court )

A taxpayer need not arrange its affairs so as to maximize taxes as long as the transaction has a legitimate business purpose. (Judge Cornelio G. Kennedy, sixth Circuit Court Appeals.)

The taxpayer (is) someone who works for the government but doesn't have to take a civil service examination. (Ronald Reagan)

Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavor consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for? (F. A. Hayek)

We cannot have both freedom and an income tax coexisting within one society. (Daniel J. Pilla)

Read more here.

Hat tip to Kosmic for sharing this.