William M West Certified Public Accountant

Tax Quotations from the
Tax Analysts' 1997 Calendar:
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It seems like the president never met a tax he did not like, except his own.

-- Sen. Alphonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., April 14, 1994

Thanks alot for tax reform. I am spending about 5 hours now working on my taxes and paying my accountant twice as much. It sure would be nice to vote for a politician who can get this tax reform under control.

-- letter from a taxpayer to the Office of Management and Budget, April 17, 1989.

To please universally was the object of his life; but to tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.

-- Edmund Burke in an April 19, 1774 address to the House of Commons.

To the extent that some people are dishonest or careless in their dealings with the government, the majority is forced to carry a heavier tax burden.

-- President John F. Kennedy, April 20, 1961.

One of the major characteristics of our tax system, and one in which we can take a great deal of pride, is that it operates primarily through individual self-assessment.

-- President John F. Kennedy, April 20, 1961.

If mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer is innocent until proven guilty, why in God's name isn't a taxpayer?

-- Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, discussing H.R. 3261 on April 21, 1994.

Every good citizen...should be willing to devote a brief time during some one day in the year, when necessary, to the making up of a listing of his income for taxes...to contribute to his government, not the scriptural tithe, but a small percentage of his net profits.

-- Cordell Hull, addressing the U.S. House of Representatives, April 26, 1913.

Put the Btu tax in the trash can, where it belongs.

-- Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, May 13, 1993

"Now, the gasoline tax is not easy to pass. Every time it comes up, rural America goes wild, farmers say they can't handle it, there is tremendous opposition to it."

-- Leon E. Panetta, May 16, 1993

The question whether an income tax can properly be levied in time of peace is one that cannot be decided by a court.

-- Assistant U.S. Attorney General Edward B. Whitney on the Supreme Court's May 20, 1895 ruling in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company.

The tax advantage held by direct marketers is extremely unfair to Main Street merchants who are very much put at a disadvantage.

-- National Conference of State Legislatures President Paul Burke on the May 26, 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota.

Tarquin and Caesar each had his Brutus, Charles the First had his Cromwell, and George the Third may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it.

-- Patrick Henry on May 29, 1765, attacking the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burgesses.

The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.

-- John Maynard Keynes, who was born June 5, 1883.

The message from California should be clarion clear.

-- Milton Friedman on Californians' June 6, 1978 approval of Proposition 13.

God only knows where we got our tax system...it is completely out of step with the world.

-- Rep. Sam Gibbons, D-Fla., June 10, 1991.

[Congressional inaction] reinforces our conclusion that Congress implicitly has permitted the states to use the worldwide combined reporting method.

-- U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Barclays Bank v. Franchise Tax Board opinion, June 20, 1994.

Secret law is an abomination.

-- U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., in his June 1973 ruling that the IRS had to release private letter rulings.

The income tax is a just law. It simply intends to put the burdens of government justly upon the backs of the people.

-- William Jennings Bryan in his July 8, 1896 "Cross of Gold" speech.

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William M West Certified Public Accountant
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