Some of my favourite business and tax quotations
“If you think professionals are expensive – see how much amateurs cost you”. – Red Adair.
“Common sense is not so common”. – Voltaire.
The best things in life are tax free”. – Joseph Bonkowski.
“The country should have a tax system that looks like someone designed it on purpose”. – William Simon.
“Love takes many forms, but none of them are tax forms.” – .Jarod Kintz
“There is no such thing as a good tax.” – Winston Churchill.
“What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue”. – Thomas Paine.
“Make sure you pay your taxes; otherwise you can get in a lot of trouble.” – Richard Nixon.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough” – Albert Einstein.
“Tax complexity itself is a kind of tax”. – Max Baucus.
“Charity is a cold, grey, loveless thing. If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim” – Clement Attlee
“Taxes are essentially an annual subscription to the country you live in. Childhood is a free trial” – Anon
“It was as true… as taxes is. And nothing’s truer than them”. – Charles Dickens.
“Philosophy teaches a man that he can’t take it with him; taxes teach him he can’t leave it behind either”. – Mignon McLaughlin.
“Tax advisers have one of the hardest jobs in the world” – Randolph E Paul – The Harvard Law Review 1950.
“For every benefit you receive a tax is levied”. – Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one”. – Voltaire
“All lasting business is built on friendship”. – Alfred Montapert.
“There’s nothing wrong with the younger generation that becoming taxpayers won’t cure”. – Dan Bennett.
“The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell”. – Confucius.
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” – Will Rogers.
“Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred pounds and a substantial tax cut save you thirty pence?” P.Bracken
“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors… and miss.” – Robert Heinlein.
“There was death and taxes, and taxes was worse, because at least death didn’t happen to you every year.” – Terry Pratchett.
“The art of taxation consists of plucking the goose so as to obtain the most feathers with the least hissing.” – Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
“With the greatest reluctance … we are accordingly forced by an absurd (and perhaps none too carefully drafted) law into an absurd decision which flies in the face of common sense of equity and of the ‘social purpose’ which is supposed to underlie and inform zero rating”. – Judge in the case of Calam Vale Ltd (VTD 16869)
“You must pay taxes. But there’s no law that says you have to leave a tip.” – Morgan Stanley advertisement.
“A penny saved is worth two pennies earned . . . after taxes”. – Randy Thurman.
“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalised robbery”. – Calvin Coolidge.
“If you get up early, work late, and pay your taxes, you will get ahead……if you strike oil.”– J Paul Getty.
“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought”. – John F Kennedy.
“What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin”. – Mark Twain.
“The power to tax is the power to destroy.” – John Marshall.
“You don’t win a tennis match by staring at the scoreboard”. – Catherine DeVrye.
“Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” – Margaret Mitchell.
“The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it’s just sort of a tired feeling.” – Paula Poundstone.
“Taxation is just a sophisticated way of demanding money with menaces.” – Terry Pratchett.
“Like Mothers, taxes are often misunderstood, but seldom forgotten.” – Lord Bramwell.
“Next to being shot at and missed, nothing is really quite as satisfying as a tax refund.” – F J Raymond
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilisation.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes.
“The hardest thing in the world to understand is tax.” – Albert Einstein
“Tax is society. It’s pulling together for a joint, better, future. Tax is public services, sustainability, progress, fairness, and social cohesion. Everyone should study tax law and policy. And not just at law schools”. – Rita de la Feria
And a few anonymous ones:
“If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else”.
“A sale is a gift until it’s paid for”.
“The taxpayer – someone who works for the government but doesn’t have to take the Civil Service examination”.
“I don’t know if I can live on my income or not – the government won’t let me try it”.
“People who complain about taxes can be divided into two classes: men and women”.
“A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right”.
“We have what it takes to take what you have.” – Suggested HMRC Motto
And even a VAT one – “If I said you had an eligible body would you hold it against me?” – MW.
I now officially have enough money to last me until I die… (if I don’t buy anything).
If you want to set up a company and run it, then that’s your business….