"In every big transaction," said Leech, "there is a magic moment during which a man has surrendered a treasure, and during which the man who is due to receive it has not yet done so. An alert lawyer will make that moment his own, possessing the treasure for a magic second, taking a little of it, passing it on. If the man who is to receive the treasure is unused to wealth, has an inferiority complex and shapeless feelings of guilt, as most people do, the lawyer can often take as much as half the bundle, and still receive the recipient's blubbering thanks."
Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater
And the second quote...
The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing.
Jean Baptiste Colbert (French Economist and Minister of Finance under King Louis IV of France, 1619-1683)
Good luck on tax day.
