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Pervasive Judicial Doctrines in the Construction of the Internal Revenue Code
Bittker, Boris
Bittker, Boris
Abstract
During the nineteenth century, the practice of construing taxing statutes strictly against the government was said to be "founded so firmly upon principles of equity and natural justice as not to admit reasonable doubt."l As explained by Mr. Justice Story in 1842: In every case . . . of doubt, [taxing] statutes are construed most strongly against the government, and in favor of the subjects or citizens, because burdens are not to be imposed, nor presumed to be imposed, beyond what the statutes expressly and clearly import. Revenue statutes are in no just sense either remedial laws or laws founded upon any permanent public policy, and therefore are not to be liberally construed. This approach, which bracketed taxing statutes with laws imposing criminal penalties or forfeitures, was not without challenge even in its heyday, and by now has been largely abandoned.