The president of the United States puts a fifty percent tariff on all imported cheese, which leads to war…with Switzerland. That’s the premise of “Strike Up the Band,” the first of a trio of Broadway musicals in the early 1930s with songs by George and Ira Gershwin that were intended as lighthearted political satires. Given what’s happening in 2025, were the Gershwins prescient? Consider that “Let ‘Em Eat Cake,” the last of these Gershwin musicals, was about a president who loses his bid for re-election and, inspired by fascism, tries to overthrow the U.S. government. (The first of the Gershwins’ political musicals, “Of Thee I Sing,” was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.)

Taxes (which is what tariffs are, a tax on imports) have played a part over the years in plots, songs and scenes on Broadway stages. The examples below — some jocular, some historical – feel timely, and not just because of the approaching Tax Day deadline.

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“I’ll Put A Tax on That” with music by Harry T. MacConnell and lyrics by Harry B. Smith, appeared in “The Casino Girl” (1900), in which a former chorus girl at the Casino Theatre in New York flees to Cairo under an assumed name to escape amorous advances of an admirer. The song is sung by the actor portraying the “Khedive of Egypt.”

If ever I’m in need of cash, I increase the tax
If my investments go to smash, I elevate the tax
If I should need a diamond pin, or the tailor’s bills come in
When I pick winners that don’t win,
I just tilt up the tax
Ha ha, ho ho, that is the proper way
Ha ha, ho ho, the people have to pay
You bet your life, I’m not a flat
I know where I’m at
I put a tax on that

“If They Ever Put A Tax on Love” was performed in “Doing Our Bit” (1917-1918)  with music by Nat Osborne and lyrics by Sam Ehrlich

There’s a tax on sugar, and there’s a little tax on honey
Why they even tax your money. 
It seems so funny when they tax your honey and your money too.
There’s a tax on letters.
Soon there’ll be a tax on stars above.
Broadway farmers will soon be out of place
Cause there’ll be no chickens there to chase
Goodbye forever if they ever put a tax on love

In second stanza: “All old maids who never had a chance/Would grab onto anything in pants.”

In 1776 (originally on Broadway 1969-1972) John Adams complains to his fellow delegates to the Second Continental Congress:
For ten years King George and his Parliament have gulled, cullied and diddled these Colonies with their illegal taxes — Stamp Acts, Townshend Acts, Sugar Acts, Tea Acts — and
when we dared stand up like men they stopped
our trade, seized our ships, blockaded our ports, burned our towns and spilled our blood — and still this Congress won’t grant any of my proposals on Independence even so much as the courtesy of open debate! Good God, what in hell are you waiting for?!”

Then they tell him to sit down in a song..

The song “It’s A Privilege to Pee”by Mark Hollmann and  Greg Kotis sums up the basic plot of the musical “Urinetown” (2001-2004):

The politicians in their wisdom saw
That there should be a law
The politicians taxed the toilets
And made illegal
Public urination and defecation

So, come and give your coins to me
Write your name here in the record book
The authorities will want to look
If you’ve been regular with me
If you’ve paid the proper fee
For the privilege to pee

In the song “96,000” from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first musical, “In The Heights” (2008-2011) the guys from the neighborhood dream of what they would do if they won $96,000 in the lottery, until Usnavi sets them straight (the lyrics below, from the stage musical, was altered slightly in the movie above)

Benny:
I’ll be a business man,
richer than Nina’s daddy,
Donald Trump and I on the links,
and he’s my caddy
My money’s making money, I’m going from po’ to moto
Keep the bling, I want the brass ring like frodo!

Usnavi:
As for you, Mr. Frodo of the shire, 96 gs ain’t enough to retire

Benny::
I’ll have enough to knock your ass of its axis!

Usnavi
You’ll have a knapsack full of jack after taxes!

In “My Shot” in Miranda’s other hit musical, Hamilton (2015- present), Alexander Hamilton lays out the rationale that will lead to revolution

we are meant to be
A colony that runs independently
Meanwhile, Britain keeps shittin’ on us endlessly
Essentially, they tax us relentlessly

Then King George turns around, runs a spendin’ spree
He ain’t ever gonna set his descendants free
So there will be a revolution in this century

In a later song in the same musical, the revolution happens, the new nation is formed, and in “Cabinet Battle # 1” Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton have a “rap-off” about whether to have a national bank and whether the US government should assume the debts of the states.  Jefferson is opposed, accusing Hamilton of simply wanting to benefit his state

Hamilton:
Not true!

Jefferson:
Ooh, if the shoe fits, wear it
If New York’s in debt—
Why should Virginia bear it? Uh! Our debts are paid, I’m afraid
Don’t tax the South cuz we got it made in the shade
In Virginia, we plant seeds in the ground
We create. You just wanna move our money around
This financial plan is an outrageous demand
And it’s too many damn pages for any man to understand
Stand with me in the land of the free
And pray to God we never see Hamilton’s candidacy
Look, when Britain taxed our tea, we got frisky
Imagine what gon’ happen when you try to tax our whisky

Taxes come up up in plays too:

In Ayad Akhtar’s “Junk” (2017) an exchange between the financial reporter Judy Chen and the junk bond king Robert Merkin
Chen: Is it true you made $800 million before taxes last year?
Merkin:Can we go off the record? I don’t like the direction of your questions. Or your tone.
chen: Are we back on the record. No one in American history has ever made that much money in a single year — since Al Capone.Any comment?
Merkin: We’re done here