April 15, 2025 by Dan Mitchell
I realize that I should be writing about a serious topic on April 15, such as the flat tax or the threat of tax increases (or Trump’s massive tax increase on trade).
But I’ve shifted this decade to share funny cartoons and meme. I did that in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, and I’ll continue the tradition this year.
We’ll start by pointing out the obvious.
Our second item depicts the heads-they-win, tails-you-lose nature of filing your tax return.
Our third item expands on that theme, showing a naive taxpayer.
Next we have a cartoon strip that shows that there is a difference (or is there?) between taxation and theft.
As usual, I’ve saved the best for last.
I’ve always been irked by the Oliver Wendell Holmes quote about how “taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.”
This final bit of satire is much more accurate.
I’ll close with a serious observation about the people who cite the Holmes quote (which is also etched on the IRS headquarters).
I wrote in 2013, “What they conveniently forget to include is that he made that statement in 1927, when federal taxes amounted to only $4 billion and the federal government consumed only about 5 percent of economic output. Yes, I’ll gladly pay for that amount of civilization.”
Well, maybe not gladly, but you get the point.
Original here. Reproduced with permission.
