death and taxes
1
3.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
muerte y impuestos
- It's often remarked that death and taxes are the two unavoidable truths of life.
- certain as death and taxes
Examples
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Who said, "There are only two certainties in life—death and taxes"?
Blog text (4) -
You're not familiar with the phrase, "In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes?"
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The only thing we're sure of is death and taxes.
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Once, the only sure things in life had been death and taxes.
Fiction book (2001) -
Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes, Ben Franklin said.
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It's often said there's nothing certain in life except death and taxes.
Blog text (3) -
But given our needs, given the absolute necessity for growth, given the future, the truth is, joining John Bontecou is every bit as certain as death and taxes.
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The only sure things in life are death and taxes.
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Benjamin Franklin famously said that the only certainties in life are death and taxes.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although the constituents 'death' and 'taxes' keep their literal meanings, the set phrase functions idiomatically to mean 'the inevitable certainties of life' rather than simply naming two items. This conventionalized rhetorical pairing is partially inferable from the parts but requires cultural or phraseological knowledge to get the intended generalization, so a B1 learner might not reliably derive the full meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
The saying death and taxes comes from a famous line that says 'nothing is certain except death and taxes'. The picture is simple: everyone dies and governments always collect money, so the phrase means the two things in life you cannot avoid.