"If it moves, tax it" (1952?)

[Landau, James]

The original quote goes back to Michael Faraday (1791-1867)who said (or
legend says that he said) "Someday you'll tax it" when some British
government official asked him what the usefulness of his electrical
experiments were.  He is more often quoted as answering "What use is a
new-born baby?".  I don't doubt that at different times he said both.

A similar Army quote is "If it moves, salute it.  If it doesn't move,
paint it."  I heard this one in 1970 and it was an old saying then.

     - Jim Landau



Barry Popik wrote:

7 March 2006, New York Sun, "Solving the Housing Crisis" by Randy
Daniels, pg. 11, col. 2:
To understand the high-cost, low-income enigma that characterizes much
of New York, a good starting point is Ronald Reagan's memorable line,
which William  Weld recently quoted but misattributed. "If it moves,"
Reagan would say, "they  want to tax it. If it keeps moving, they want
to regulate it. And when it finally stops moving, they want to subsidize
it." That's a very good description  of big government economic policy.
A description, however, is not an explanation.
...
...
...
Both Randy Daniels and WIlliam Weld are running for the Republican
nomination to be New York State's next governor.
...
Does Fred Shapiro have the Ronald Reagan quote? Tom Golisano (who ran
unsuccessfully for NYS governor on third party lines) did say the quote,
but the saying is older than both Golisano's and Reagan's uses.

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