Similar, though not a folk song, from around 1919 by
Jack Yellen and Milton Ager:
(from a modern barbershop arrangement.)

DON'T PUT A TAX ON THE BEAUTIFUL GIRLS

Verse:

Taxes here and there, taxes ev'ry-where,
taxes ev'ry place that they can be;
Tho' I'm getting by, still I can't deny,
there's a tax I know would ruin me.
I wrote my congressman a note,
I said, "If you want my vote:

[CHORUS I]

Don't put a tax on the beautiful girls,
how can I live without love?
You can tax my bus'ness and all that I own,
but have a little pity, leave my pleasure alone.
What'll I do on a beautiful night if I should happen to fall?
Suppose that I'm about to kiss a beautiful maid;
What if she discovers that my tax isn't paid?
Don't put a tax on the beautiful girls,
Or I won't get any lovin' at all.

[CHORUS II]

Don't put a tax on the beautiful girls,
how can I live without love?
You can tax my income, my house and my car,
but I am sure that taxing girls is going too far.
Oh, what'll I do on a beautiful night if I should happen to fall?
But if you have to put a tax on beautiful vamps.
Let me be the guy who goes around with the stamps.
Don't put a tax on the beautiful girls, or I won't get any lovin' at all.