William M West Certified Public Accountant

Tax Quotations from the
Tax Analysts' 1997 Calendar:
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Contemplate with abhorrence the measures leading directly or indirectly to those crimes which produce this military coercion.

-- President George Washington, urging peaceful resolution of the Whiskey Rebellion on September 25, 1794.

The desire for a less complicated system must be balanced against the often-conflicting desires for a fairer tax system and for one that interferes less with the workings of the economy.

-- Treasury Assistant Secretary John E. Chapoton in September 28, 1982 testimony to Congress.

It's hard to tinker with a monster.

-- Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., discussing the tax code on October 5, 1993.

We can't leave in place an income tax structure...that is not in tune with savings and investment.

-- Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., discussing a tax plan he and Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., prepared, October 5, 1993.

Ronald Reagan will clobber us if we don't go forward with tax reform.

-- Speaker of the House Rep. Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, D-Mass., October 7, 1985.

My decision...rests on my firm belief that the public interest requires a swift disposition of the problems which are facing me.

-- U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, announcing his resignation on October 10, 1973 and his plea of nolo contendere on tax evasion charges.

A basic tenet of the American justice system is that you are innocent until proven guilty. This principle does not, however, apply to the U.S. Tax Court.

-- Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, introducing legislation on October 12, 1993 to switch the burden of proof in federal tax fraud and evasion cases from taxpayers to the IRS.

It is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given personally or by their representatives.

-- Stamp Act Congress, October 19, 1765.

The greatest tax bill in American history.

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the October 21, 1942 passage of the Revenue Act of 1942.

Money goes out the door long before the IRS has an opportunity to walk in the door.

-- U.S. Treasury Financial Economist Janet Holzblatt, speaking on the EITC at an October 22, 1993 American Tax Policy Institute conference.

The Service is justly concerned about abuses in the tax shelter area.

-- IRS Commissioner Jerome Kurtz, October 26, 1977.

Probably there are people in this room still mad at me because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you to know the I think I raised them too much, too.

-- President Bill Clinton, October 1995

Those, therefore, who preach doctrines or set examples which undermine or subvert the authority of the laws....incapacitate us for a government of laws.

-- U.S. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on opposition such as that which arose in the Whiskey Rebellion, which was suppressed by mid November 1794.

I can't make a damn thing out of this tax problem. I listen to one side and they seem right -- and then I talk to the other side and they seem just as right, and here I am where I started. God, what a job!

-- President Warren G. Harding, born in November 1865.

Enforcement facilitates collection of delinquent tax.

-- From IRS collecting principles announced December 12, 1994.

There was an old lady lived over the sea, and she was an Island Queen; her daughter lived off in a new country, with an ocean of water between. The old lady's pockets were full of gold, but never contented was she, so she called on her daughter to pay her a tax of three pence a pound on her tea, of three pence a pound on her tea.

-- Verse from "Revolutionary Tea," a song about the December 16, 1773 Boston Tea Party.

What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist only takes your skin.

-- Mark Twain, December 30, 1902

When more of the people's sustenance is exacted through the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the just obligations of government and expenses of its economical administration, such exaction becomes ruthless extortion and a violation of the fundamental principles of a free government.

-- U.S. President Grover Cleveland, December 1886.

Exemption is the ultimate tax shelter.

-- Lee A. Sheppard

The biggest tax increase in the history of the universe.

-- Senate Majority Leader Robert J. Dole, R-Kan., on President Clinton's 1993 deficit reduction package.

It would be great to be a tax attorney paid to search for loopholes in [a flat tax] world.

-- William G. Gale

All too often the IRS has used its enormous powers to unjustly and unfairly ruin people's lives and intimidate honest taxpayers.

-- James A. Traficant, Jr.

It's just plain wrong to cut taxes for the wealthy and pay for it on the backs of our nation's elderly by cutting their Medicare.

-- Rep. Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo.

When there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income.

-- Plato, in The Republic

I'm all for it...mom, apple pie, and eliminating the AMT for the purpose of charitable giving.

-- Mark Weinburg

We reject...the big government theory that says we can hamstring business and tax and spend our way to prosperity.

-- Democratic Party platform in 1992

In the usual progress of things, the necessities of a nation in every stage of its existence will be found at least equal to its resources.

-- Alexander Hamilton

The president's policy on taxes is a day-to-day matter.

-- Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell, D-Maine

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William M West Certified Public Accountant
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