American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) spoke about the income tax in his newspaper column on April 8, 1923. “The Income Tax has made more Liars out of the American People than Golf has,” Rogers wrote. “Even when you make one out on the level, you don’t know, when it’s through, if you are a Crook or a Martyr.”
 
Then Rogers added:
   
“Of course, people are getting smarter nowadays: they are letting Lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their Guide.”
   
All three sayings have been frequently quoted.
 
   
Wikipedia: Will Rogers
William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American stage and motion picture actor, vaudeville performer, cowboy, humorist, newspaper columnist, and social commentator from Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee citizen born in the Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory.
 
Known as “Oklahoma’s Favorite Son”, Rogers was born to a Cherokee family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma). As an entertainer and humorist, he traveled around the world three times, made 71 films (50 silent films and 21 “talkies”), and wrote more than 4,000 nationally syndicated newspaper columns.
 
8 April 1923, St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch, “Will Rogers the Cowboy Humorist Says,” pt. 5, pg. 31, col. 3:
Of course, people are getting smarter nowadays: they are letting Lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their Guide.
       
Google Books
The Best of Will Rogers
Edited by Bryan B. Sterling
New York, NY: M. Evans
1990
Pg. 163:   
They will have to lower income taxes, but of course, people are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their consciences be their guides.
   
Google Books
Lawyer’s Wit and Wisdom:
Quotations on the Legal Profession, in Brief
By Bruce M. Nash and Allan Zullo
Philadelphia, PA: Running Press
1995
Pg. 60:
Of course people are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers instead of their conscience be their guides.
WILL ROGERS, AMERICAN ACTOR AND HUMORIST
     
Google Books
A Speaker’s Treasury of Quotations:
Maxims, Witticisms and Quips for Speeches and Presentations
Compiled by Michael C. Thomsett and Linda Rose Thomsett
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.
2009
Pg. 70:
People are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their guide.—Will Rogers, The Illiterate Digest, 1924
 
Accounting Today 
Comic tax relief
By Robert McKenzie
Published March 23 2018, 7:19am EDT
(...)
Tax wisdom through the ages
People are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their guide.
— Will Rogers, American humorist
 
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Nowland Law
@nowlandlaw
“Of course, people are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers instead of their conscience be their guides.” - Will Rogers, American Cowboy and Humorist
11:05 AM · Feb 28, 2019·Hootsuite Inc.
 
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Budding Lawyers
@BlawyersIndia
People are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their guide. - WILL ROGERS.
#lawyers #legal #quotes
10:06 AM · Aug 5, 2019·Buffer