Scholarship@WashULaw

We Are All Tax Historians Now

Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2023

Publication Title

Tax Notes

Abstract

The opposing parties in Moore obviously don’t agree on much, but on one point they see eye to eye: History can help determine the constitutionality of a tax law. Four separate times in her argument, the solicitor general returned to the point that “history and tradition” — going back most especially to a series of laws from the 1860s and 70s that taxed business owners on undistributed profits — decisively demonstrated the constitutionality of the 2017 mandatory repatriation tax (MRT). Not to be outdone, counsel for the Moores likewise turned to history, opening his argument with his view on how income “was understood at the time of the 16th Amendment’s adoption.” The numerous briefs are riddled with disquisitions on obscure old treatises, Founding-era practice, and the ratification debates in both 1789 and 1913. History was king.

Keywords

Moore v. United States, Taxation, Legal History, Constitutional Law

Publication Citation

Clarke, Conor, We Are All Tax Historians Now in “The Biggest Implications of Moore,” 181 Tax Notes 2147 (2023)

Link

Share

COinS