"The trouble with today's taxes is that they…

“The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there” is a jocular one-line saying about taxes. American syndicated entertainment columnist Earl Wilson (1907-1987) included the saying in his newspaper column on March 20, 1972. Wilson did not credit anyone; he often credited celebrities for lines that were actually written by their press agents. Authorship is uncertain.

20 March 1972, Hartford (CT) Courant Earl Wilson syndicated entertainment column, pg. 25, col. 3:
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there.

29 March 1972, Coshocton (OH) Tribune, pg. 1, left masthead:
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there.

Google Books
Spending Your Way to the Poorhouse
By Tommy L. Gardner
Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse
2004
Pg. 186:
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from getting there.

Twitter
Las Vegas Carl’s Jr
@LasVegascarlsjr
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there.
1:29 AM · Apr 16, 2010·Twitter Web Client

Accounting Today
Comic tax relief
By Robert McKenzie
Published March 23 2018, 7:19am EDT
(...)
Between here and there
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there.

Twitter
EhlenHeldman
@EhlenHeldman
Between here and there.
The trouble with today’s taxes is that they keep your take-home pay from ever getting there.
Image
12:00 PM · Mar 25, 2018·Twitter Web Client