Preserving fairness in tax administration in the Mayo era

One of the dominant themes in contemporary federal taxation is bringing tax administration within the fold of general administrative law. In 2011, the US Supreme Court unambiguously embraced this movement in the landmark case Mayo Foundation for Medical Education & Research v. US, in which the Court held that challenges to the validity of Treasury regulations generally are governed by the Chevron standard to the same extent as are regulations issued by other administrative agencies. There was an immediate and strong hostile reaction to Mayo in tax circles. Many fear that Mayo dramatically tips the balance in favor of the Internal Revenue Service, such that challenging allegedly invalid tax regulations will be very difficult in the future. This article maintains that, just on its own terms, Mayo is unlikely to have this effect. This article assesses the practical significance of such threats, and it suggests ways by which they may be defused.