Adam Smith - 4 Principles Of Good Taxation

Adam Smith wrote the seminal economics work The Wealth of Nations in 1776. One of his pithier truths is this line: There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.

He also wrote an article on Four Principles of Good Taxation that is short and worth reading.

Here’s one to remember April 15th: by subjecting the people to the frequent visits and the odious examination of the tax-gatherers, it may expose them to much unnecessary trouble, vexation, and oppression; and though vexation is not, strictly speaking, expense, it is certainly equivalent to the expense at which every man would be willing to redeem himself from it. It is in some one or other of these four different ways that taxes are frequently so much more burdensome to the people than they are beneficial to the sovereign. . . .

You might even remind your Congressman of this article as a new session starts.

Four Principles of Good Taxation