A 2010 Associated Press report quotes this sentence as Coolidge’s. This research did not locate the original speech, article or letter containing those exact words.
“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery” — Attributed to Calvin Coolidge in a 2010 Associated Press report; original source and date not established.
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Provenance
The source
Source
Original source not established
Evidence
Checked secondary citation; primary artifact not independently inspected
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.
The attribution decision follows the checked evidence and its limits. Checked evidence ↗
The cited underlying artifact was not independently inspected; the conclusion is limited to this evidence. Research and citations ↗
No dated original source was established for the exact sentence. The attribution alone does not clear the wording as public domain.
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Calvin Coolidge was the thirtieth president of the United States. His record of tax reduction helps explain why this saying is frequently attached to him, but consistency of sentiment is not proof of exact authorship.
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Cite this
The primary source (Chicago)
Associated Press. “Born on the Fourth of July, Calvin Coolidge is hero to tea partiers.” Deseret News, July 2010. Secondary attribution; original source not established.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/collecting-more-taxes-than-is-absolutely-necessary-is/