<P> However, Franklin's letter is not the origin of the phrase, which appeared earlier in Daniel Defoe's The Political History of the Devil . </P> <P> Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believ'd . </P> <P> And in The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock (1716) </P> <P>' Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes, </P>

Who said nothing is certain except death and taxes