Who originally said the only thing certain in life death and taxes?

Ben Franklin's quote "but in the world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes."

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This statement is untrue. Although Benjamin Franklin DID state this in a letter to French physicist and writer, Jean- Baptiste Leroy. Daniel Defoe, in fact, said the statement, " Things as certain as death and taxes can be more firmly believed."

Proving the above statement wrong.