Quote #0
The one thing that hurts more than having to pay income tax is not having to pay income tax.
Anonymous
About This Quote
The line is a humorous observation about income tax: paying it is unpleasant, but not paying it would usually mean you have no income, which is worse. It circulated as a standalone quip in print before being publicly associated with Lord Thomas Robert Dewar via reports of a 1927 speech in London.
Interpretation
The joke reframes tax pain as evidence of financial success: the burden of tax implies you earned money, so the absence of tax would signal a more serious problem—lack of income.
Variations
The one thing that hurts more than having to pay income tax is not having to pay income tax.
If there’s one thing that hurts more than paying income tax—it’s not having to pay income tax.
The only thing that hurts more than paying an income tax is not having to pay an income tax.
Misattributions
- Thomas Robert Dewar
