Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tax Day in the USA

Yes well, April 15 was Sunday, so we got until Monday. Yesterday was Emancipation Day in DC, so we got until today. File your taxes yet? You have until midnight tonight to get them in. For the first time in several years, I am getting a refund! WooHoo!

Here are several quotes that appeared on the Washington Post Op-Ed page yesterday to celebrate the annual ritual of tax preparation and filing. The quotes were supplied by Fred R. Shapiro, who edited the Yale Book of Quotations and serves as the associate librarian for collections and access at Yale Law School. Enjoy.

"Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes." Christopher Bullock, The Cobler of Preston (1716).

"Taxation without representation is tyranny." Attributed to James Otis in a letter by John Adams to William Tudor, March 29, 1818 (see also DC Emancipation Day).

"The income tax is just. It simply intends to put the burdens of government justly on the backs of the people." William Jennings Bryan, speech at the Democratic National Convention, Chicago, July 8, 1896.

What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin." Mark Twain, notebooks, December 30, 1902.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What irony that DC's emancipation day and tax day coincide, since we still suffer from "taxation without representation".

Archivalist said...

Up here in New Rainland we're getting two extra days thanks to some weather event or something.

Kim Ayres said...

It's true what they say - there are 3 things that are unavoidable in life:

Death
Taxes and
Spam