50 Tax Quotes that are Informational yet Engaging

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published January 20, 2023

You are mistaken if you think that tax quotes aren’t for everyone.

Although tax is a dry topic with no interest, these tax quotes are impressive enough to seek your attention.

You can also share these great tax quotes with your friends and colleagues.

Apart from offering you the best tax quotes, we have also discussed the term ‘Tax’ and its different types.

In this way, you can have a better understanding of the tax quotes listed below.

What is tax?

We refer to tax as a mandatory contribution, which a government levies on an individual or corporation.

The revenue thus generated is used to finance various projects for the public’s well-being in different areas, including health, education, and infrastructure.

Different types of taxes

Different countries around the globe currently use various tax systems.

We discuss the most common types of taxes levied on individuals and business entities below.

Income Tax: It’s a set percentage of tax payable on the income generated during a financial year
Corporate Tax: This type of tax is levied on the percentage of the total profit gained by a corporation or business entity
Property Tax: As the name suggests, they levy this type of tax on the current value of a property asset, including land or house
Sales Tax: This tax relates to the amount payable to the government on the sale of certain goods or services
Payroll Tax: It’s a percentage of the employee’s pay that the employer pays. The government uses the revenue generated through this tax to fund Social Security and healthcare programs
Estate Tax: This tax is levied on the deceased person’s property depending on the property’s fair market value (FMV). The total value of a property must exceed the threshold declared by both the federal and state governments
Tariff: This tax is imposed on imported goods, which helps to strengthen the domestic manufacturing

Who is the taxpayer?

A taxpayer is a person who pays taxes to the government or relevant authorities.

Taxpayers differ depending on the type of tax they pay.

For instance, federal income tax relates to people who have earned a certain income.

A corporate taxpayer includes a corporation or business entity with taxable profits earned during a financial year.

Top 10 tax quotes

These are the top 10 tax quotes for everyone.

1. “I didn’t pay my taxes for years.” — Noam Chomsky

2. “Read my lips: no new taxes.” — George H. W. Bush

3. “I’ll happily pay more taxes if we all have equal human rights.” — Trisha Paytas

4. “Let them march all they want, as long as they continue to pay their taxes.” — Alexander Haig

5. “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” — Benjamin Franklin

6. “We have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work.” — Milton Friedman

7. “I wouldn’t mind paying taxes – if I knew they were going to a friendly country.” — Dick Gregory

8. “The problem with the economy isn’t that people aren’t paying their fair share of taxes.” — Jon Lovitz

9. “The problem with being an employee or self-employed is you pay the highest taxes.” — Robert Kiyosaki

10. “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.” — John Maynard Keynes

Tax quotes by political figures

Here are some quotes by popular politicians of all times.

11. “To impose taxes when the public exigencies require them is an obligation of the most sacred character, especially with a free people.” — James Monroe

12. “To say that any people are not fit for freedom, is to make poverty their choice, and to say they had rather be loaded with taxes than not.” — Thomas Paine

13. “When the federal government spends more each year than it collects in tax revenues, it has three choices: It can raise taxes, print money, or borrow money.” — Ron Paul

14. “The biggest source of getting the country to a balanced budget is not by raising taxes or by cutting spending. It’s by encouraging the growth of the economy.” — Mitt Romney

15. “In the middle of a recession, where we’re just climbing out of it, where the economy -unemployment is still at 9.7 percent, the idea of raising taxes and reducing spending is a prescription for disaster.” — Joe Biden

Tax quotes that offer perspective

16. “I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).” — Abraham Lincoln

17. “Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice: all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things.” — Adam Smith

18. “I don’t blame or complain about things like the economy, the government, taxes, employees, gas prices, or any of the external things that I don’t have control over. The only thing I have control over is my response to these things.” — Jack Canfield

19. “I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: try being rich first. See if that doesn’t cover most of it. There’s not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job.” — Bill Murray

20. “The answer to many of the domestic problems we face is not higher taxes and more spending. It is less waste, more results, and greater freedom for the individual American to earn a rightful place in his own community – and for States and localities to address their own needs in their own ways, in the light of their own priorities.” — Richard M. Nixon

Tax quotes with a strong message

These tax quotes convey a message, making them worthy to read.

21. “In levying taxes and in shearing sheep it is well to stop when you get down to the skin.” — Austin O’Malley

22. “Corporations do not pay taxes, they collect them, passing the burden to consumers as a cost of production.” — George Will

23. “It is a way to take people’s wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.” — Thomas Sowell

24. “Note, besides, that it is no more immoral to directly rob citizens than to slip indirect taxes into the price of goods that they cannot do without.” — Albert Camus

25. “The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.” — Gore Vidal

In-depth tax quotes

26. “If you can manipulate news, a judge can manipulate the law. A smart lawyer can keep a killer out of jail, a smart accountant can keep a thief from paying taxes, a smart reporter could ruin your reputation- unfairly.” — Mario Cuomo

27. “What about feeling sorry for those who pay the taxes? Those who are people that no one feels sorry for. They are asked to give and give until they have no more to give. And when they say ‘enough,’ they are called selfish.” — Rush Limbaugh

28. “Reforming Social Security to make it fully funded and independently held, that’s compassionate because it allows people to control their own lives; cutting taxes on families and all Americans to let people have more control over their lives.” — Grover Norquist

29. “People start to yawn when you warn them about a move toward socialism. It seems abstract. But if you discuss the issues that arise from high taxes, oppressive regulation, seizure of private property, and dictating of individual behavior, people understand them, and they reject them.” — Charlie Kirk

30. “Despite the debt, the traffic, the one-party rule, the taxes, and the eagerness of politicians to overwhelm small businesses and large corporate job producers with red tape and unnecessary regulations, the Golden State is still the most beautiful place to live and work in the United States.” — Richard Grenell

Funny tax quotes

These tax quotes are bound to bring a smile to your face.

31. “You don’t pay taxes – they take taxes.” — Chris Rock

32. “The way taxes are, you might as well marry for love.” — Joe E. Lewis

33. “The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.” — Lao Tzu

34. “The politician’s promises of yesterday are the taxes of today.” — William Lyon Mackenzie King

35. “Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.” — Calvin Coolidge

36. “Solar power is the last energy resource that isn’t owned yet – nobody taxes the sun yet.” — Bonnie Raitt

37. “Any politician promising not to raise your taxes is like a vampire promising to become a vegetarian.” — Pierre Poilievre

38. “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” — Will Rogers

39. “People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can’t live within its income.” — Robert Half

40. “Between income taxes and employment taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes, corporate taxes, property taxes, Social Security taxes, we’re being taxed to death.” — Chuck Norris

Some other tax quotes that you might Like

Below are a few other tax quotes to keep you engaged.

41. “We need to stop illegal immigration. We need to put people back to work. We need to cut taxes.” — Corey Lewandowski

42. “I’m proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money.” — Arthur Godfrey

43. “Someone is going to have to explain to me at some time how raising taxes on job-creators is going to create more jobs.” — Jim Jordan

44. “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

45. “We have to reduce the tax burden, whether it’s income tax for corporations or private individuals, and we should put a freeze on property taxes.” — Bruce Rauner

Longer tax quotes to check out

46. “Good governance takes behavior that is negative or not helpful to the greater good of society, whether it’s polluting behavior, plastics, or whatever, and taxes the behavior.” — Edward Burtynsky

47. “My mom has always been my champion. She was very smart and grounded. She said, ‘Save your money. Pay your taxes. Don’t put everything in one basket,’ but she let me explore and be creative.” — Queen Latifah

48. “Sugary drinks are blamed for increasing the rates of chronic disease and obesity in America. Yet efforts to reduce their consumption through taxes or other measures have gone nowhere. The beverage industry has spent millions defeating them.” — Robert Reich

49. “Innovations in science and technology are the engines of the 21st-century economy; if you care about the wealth and health of your nation tomorrow, then you’d better rethink how you allocate taxes to fund science. The federal budget needs to recognize this.” — Neil deGrasse Tyson

50. “If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further. But I think that people at the high end – people like myself – should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.” — Warren Buffett