I prefer an income tax, but the truth is I am afraid of the discussion which will follow and the criticism which will ensue if there is an other division in the Supreme Court on the subject of the income tax. Nothing has injured the prestige of the Supreme Court more than that last decision, and I think that many of the most violent advocates of the income tax will be glad of the substitution in their hearts for the same reasons. I am going to push the Constitutional amendment, which will admit an income tax without questions, but I am afraid of it without such an amendment.
ATTRIBUTION:
William Howard Taft (1857–1930), U.S. president. Letter, Butt to his sister-in-law, Clara F. Butt, July 1, 1909. Archie Butt, Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide, 1: 134, Doubleday, Doran & Company (1930).
The Supreme Court upheld an income tax passed during the Civil War but in 1895, changed its mind.
