Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.

Attributed to Calvin Coolidge, the line expresses a classical limited-government view of taxation: taxes are legitimate only insofar as they fund necessary public functions, and any excess becomes morally equivalent to taking property without just cause. The phrase “legalized robbery” is deliberately provocative, collapsing the distinction between coercion by criminals and coercion by the state when the state exceeds necessity. In Coolidge’s political persona—associated with fiscal restraint and skepticism toward expansive federal power—the sentiment aligns with an argument for frugality, balanced budgets, and keeping government within narrow bounds. It also implies a standard of accountability: the burden of proof lies with government to justify every additional dollar collected.