“Taxation without representation is tyranny” was a slogan of the American Revolution. A modern version of the saying is:
 
“If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see it today with representation.”
 
The expression means that all the great “representation” doesn’t necessarily mean lower taxes. “Taxation without representation was bad enough, but it is hard right now to see how representation helps very much” was cited in a 1932 newspaper. “Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad. He should see it today with representation” was cited in 1951. The expression was cited frequently in 1951 and 1952, often using the name of founding father Patrick Henry (1736-1799).
 
The saying is often incorrectly credited to conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, and Patrick Henry is replaced with Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).
 
     
Wikipedia: No taxation without representation
“No taxation without representation” is a slogan originating during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary grievance of the American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution. In short, many in those colonies believed that, as they were not directly represented in the distant British Parliament, any laws it passed affecting the colonists (such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act) were illegal under the Bill of Rights 1689, and were a denial of their rights as Englishmen.
 
Jonathan Mayhew, Old West Church’s second Congregational pastor, used the phrase, “no taxation without representation” in a sermon in 1750. The phrase revives a sentiment central to the cause of the English Civil War following the refusal of parliamentarian John Hampden to pay ship money tax. “No Taxation Without Representation,” in the context of British American Colonial taxation, appeared for the first time in the February 1768 London Magazine headline, on page 89, in the printing of Lord Camden’s “Speech on the Declaratory Bill of the Sovereignty of Great Britain over the Colonies.”
 
Wikipedia: Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784 to 1786.
 
Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act 1765 and is remembered for his “Give me liberty, or give me death!” speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is regarded as one of the most influential champions of Republicanism and an enthusiastic promoter of the American Revolution and its fight for independence.
 
8 April 1932, Boston (MA) Globe, pg. 44, col. 4:
More Representatives, More Taxes
Taxation without representation was bad enough, but it is hard right now to see how representation helps very much.—Portland Press-Herald.
 
6 March 1951, Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, pg. 13, col. 6 ad:
TAXES
Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad. He should see it today with representation.
(Pioneer Litho Co.—ed.)
 
24 May 1951, Rocky Mount (NC) Evening Telegram, “Taxidermy” by Clayton Rand, pg. 4:
Our fighting forebears put up a big howl in 1776 over a tax of tuppence on a pound of tea. “Taxation without representation,” they proclaimed, “is tyranny.” Now someone observes, “If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see it now with representation.”
 
2 July 1951, Sheboygan (WI) Press, “Office Cat,” pg. 22, col. 4:
If our forefathers thought taxation without representation was bad, they should see it now WITH representation.
 
4 May 1952, The News and Courier (Charleston, SC), pg. 4A, col. 2:
Still Not So Good
If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad, says The Kernel, he ought to see it with representation.
 
2 June 1952, Arkansas Gazette (Little Rock, AR), “Hendrix Class Told Crisis Has Base in Decay,” pg. 1B, col. 1:
The North Carolinan (Dr. Fletcher Nelson, North Carolina college president—ed.) also paid attention to the complexities and cost of modern government. “If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad,” he said, “he should see taxation with it.”
 
3 October 1952, Dubois (PA) Courier-Express, pg. 9, col. 1:
His general theme was a discussion of Americanism and, while he spoke comparatively briefly, he offered plenty of food for thought in many of his statements, some of which were woven into his address as follows;
 
“They say taxation without representation is bad. You should see it with representation.”
 
6 December 1953, Washington (DC) Post, “In New York” by Walter Winchell, sec. 6, pg. 1L, col. 7:
Alex Drier’s “Man On the Go” bill offered this corker: “If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see it with representation!”
     
Google Books
19 October 1972, New Scientist, “Intimate taxation” by Patrick Ryan, pg. 61, col. 1:
When Value Added Tax eventually hits us, we may live to appreciate the American aphorism that “If Patrick Henry thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is with representation”.
 
Google Books
The Quotable A**hole:
More than 1,200 Bitter Barbs, Cutting Comments, and Caustic Comebacks
By Eric Grzymkowski
Avon, MA: Adams Media
2011
Pg. 178:
If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation.”
—RUSH LIMBAUGH, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE RADIO PERSONALITY
 
Google Books
Still Speaking with the Stars
By Bob Benson
Xlibris Corporation (Xlibris.com)
2011
Pg. ?:
If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is with representation. (Old Farmer’s Almanac—1980)
 
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“If Thomas Jefferson thought taxation without representation was bad, he should see how it is with representation.”
Rush Limbaugh
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8:47 PM - 12 Jan 2016