Justice Brandeis quote
Dexter Wright
well. Does anyone know when, where or if he said this?
It's all over the web with never a cite.
Thanks all ... Dexter
THOUGHTS ON LEGITIMATE TAX AVOIDANCE
By Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
I live in Alexandria, Virginia. Near the Supreme Court chambers is a toll
bridge across the Potomac. When in a rush, I pay the dollartoll and get home
early. However, I usually drive a free bridge outside the downtown section
of the city, and cross the Potomac on a free bridge. This bridge was placed
outside the downtown Washington, D.C. area to serve a useful social service:
getting drivers to drive the extra mile to help alleviate congestion during
rush hour. If I went over the toll bridge and through the barrier without
paying the toll, I would be committing tax evasion. If, however, I drive the
extra mile and drive outside the city of Washington, I am using a
legitimate, logical and suitable method of tax avoidance, and I am
performing a useful social service by doing so. For my tax evasion, I should
be punished. For my tax avoidance, I should be commended. The tragedy of
life today is that so few people know that the free bridge even
exists. -Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Robert Nabors
talking about? Have never seen a toll bridge in Washington. Must have been
before my time!
"Dexter Wright" <qu...@abaris.net> wrote in message
news:EOUl7.567$yt6.1...@news.pacbell.net...
David C. Kifer
>
> I have lived in the Washington area since 1957. What toll bridge is he
> talking about? Have never seen a toll bridge in Washington. Must have been
> before my time!
Yup!
"Brandeis, Louis Dembitz. 1856-1941. American jurist who served
as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1916-1939). "
--American Heritage dictionary
--
Dave
"Tam multi libri, tam breve tempus!"
(Et brevis pecunia.) [Et breve spatium.]
David C. Kifer
>
> I've checked Google for a proper cite on this and some of the quote
> sites as well. Does anyone know when, where or if he said this?
> It's all over the web with never a cite.
>
> Thanks all ... Dexter
>
> THOUGHTS ON LEGITIMATE TAX AVOIDANCE
> By Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
mentioning a toll bridge.]
Since there was a question about a toll bridge in the area...
I found a website:
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_04-27-01.html
that contains:
"REMARKS BY WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST
THE ARLINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
BICENTENNIAL BANQUET
ARMY-NAVY COUNTRY CLUB
APRIL 27, 2001"
This speech is a history of the bridges over the Potomac River in
the area. At one point the SC Chief Justice says:
"Unlike the Arlington Memorial Bridge, the Fourteenth Street Bridge
site has always been strictly utilitarian. The first wooden, mile-long
toll bridge, called Long Bridge, was built in 1809. Today, a few years
short of two hundred, the Fourteenth Street Bridge complex has five
spans across the Potomac River: three steel girder highway bridges, one
railroad span and a two-track metrorail span that opened in 1983."
The speech does not say when the toll was lifted. But it is a
good brief history of cross-river transportation...
I was unable to find a citation for the Brandeis quote, either.
William C Waterhouse
"Dexter Wright" <qu...@abaris.net> writes:
>... Does anyone know when, where or if he said this?
> It's all over the web with never a cite.
> THOUGHTS ON LEGITIMATE TAX AVOIDANCE
> By Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
>
> I live in Alexandria, Virginia. Near the Supreme Court chambers is a toll
> bridge across the Potomac. When in a rush, I pay the dollartoll and get home
> early. However, I usually drive a free bridge outside the downtown section
> of the city, and cross the Potomac on a free bridge. This bridge was placed
> outside the downtown Washington, D.C. area to serve a useful social service:
> getting drivers to drive the extra mile to help alleviate congestion during
> rush hour. If I went over the toll bridge and through the barrier without
> paying the toll, I would be committing tax evasion. If, however, I drive the
> extra mile and drive outside the city of Washington, I am using a
> legitimate, logical and suitable method of tax avoidance, and I am
> performing a useful social service by doing so. For my tax evasion, I should
> be punished. For my tax avoidance, I should be commended. The tragedy of
> life today is that so few people know that the free bridge even
> exists. -Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis
>
We can tell that this is phony just by checking the first sentence.
When Brandeis and his wife moved to Washington in 1916, they took
an apartment at the building called Stoneleigh Court [see A.T. Mason,
_Brandeis: A Free Man's Life_, p. 513]. It was located at 1025
Connecticut Ave., NW [see J. M. Goode, _Best Addresses: A Century of
Washington's Distinguished Apartment Houses_]. Sometime around
1928(*) they moved a little further north to an apartment in
Florence Court West [now California House, at 2205 California
St., NW -- see Goode's book]. They never lived across the Potomac.
(*) No doubt the date of the move could be pinned down by looking
at a more personally oriented biography than Mason's; but the one I
located (by Alfred Lief) is in the library annex and not
immediately available. I found the approximate date by checking
the addresses given in successive issues of _Who's Who in America_.
William C. Waterhouse
Penn State