Thomas Jefferson had a lot to say about taxation and the American republic. His main objection was that taxes were much too complicated. In 1784, he wrote to James Madison:
“Would it not be better to simplify the system of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety of subjects and pass the money through so many new hands?”
Almost twenty years later, Jefferson was still dissatisfied with the way taxes were being assessed. He also worried that collecting taxes could make the government unpopular with the people. In 1813, he wrote to John Wayles Eppes:
“The public contributions should be as uniform as practicable from year to year, that our habits of industry and of expense may become adapted to them; and that they may be duly digested and incorporated with our annual economy.”
Those of us who have attempted to work our way through complex tax forms would probably agree with Jefferson that taxes should be simpler—or maybe even that we shouldn’t have to pay income taxes at all!
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