The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, a case that could hamper Congress from imposing specific types of wealth taxes in the future. Fordham Law Professor and tax law expert John Brooks spoke to CNN about the case.
“They would like a language of an opinion to make it very hard, if not impossible, for either a Warren-Sanders-type wealth tax or a Wyden-style-unrealized-gain-
as-income tax,” said John Brooks, a professor of law at Fordham University, who filed an amicus brief supporting the US government.
Prof. Brooks is also quoted in The Wall Street Journal about the case.
John Brooks, a tax-law professor at Fordham University who filed a brief in favor of the government, pointed to the income taxes that Congress enacted before the 16th Amendment as evidence of a common understanding at the time that the definition of income included unrealized gains.
If the court emphasizes a realization requirement in the Constitution, that would, Brooks said, “say that the framers of the 16th Amendment meant something different than what everyone understood income taxation to mean.”
Read “Supreme Court hears case that could make it harder for Congress to tax the rich” on CNN.
Read “Supreme Court Wary of Remaking Income Tax” in The Wall Street Journal.
