Quotation of Note

Most non-professionals fail to note an important distinction laid out long ago by an influential judge relative to what constitutes tax evasion (illegal) and The Law of Tax Avoidance ... (legal).


Billings Learned Hand was a prominent United States judge and judicial philosopher. He served on the Southern District Court of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In his famous 1947 dissenting opinion justifying legal tax avoidance, Hand stated:

there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible.

[212]



Hand has reportedly been quoted more often than any other lower-court judge by legal scholars and by the Supreme Court of the United States. [1]
.
Thus, tax evasion is expressly illegal, while savvy tax avoidance is simply enlightened. Either way, lawyers will collect generous fees.
.
Submarines are always silent and strange.
.
Many lawyers do not want fair and simple taxes, do you? If most do not, who will be surprised when submarine production is suddenly cut!