Today, it takes more brains and effort to make out the income-tax form than it does to make the income.

Attributed to Alfred E. Neuman—the fictional mascot of MAD magazine—this quip satirizes modern bureaucracy by claiming that tax compliance has become more intellectually demanding than earning money itself. The humor depends on inversion: the supposedly secondary task (paperwork) eclipses the primary one (work and enterprise). Read as social commentary, it reflects a mid‑20th‑century American skepticism toward expanding administrative systems and the perceived complexity of the U.S. tax code. Using Neuman’s persona also frames the complaint as populist and irreverent, mocking officialdom while voicing a common taxpayer frustration.