Tax as Everylaw: Interpretation, Enforcement, and the Legitimacy of the IRS

[...]Louis Kaplow and Steven Shavell, two respected and prolific scholars at the Harvard Law School, distinguished the "legal system" from "the income tax" in such a profound way that the distinction appears in the title of an important article, ( Why the Legal System is Less Efficient than the Income Tax in Redistributing Income), and that distinction is repeated in the scholarly dialog that ensued.s Other scholars have examined ways in which the characterization of tax as different affects its role in the law school curriculum and its attraction as an area of practice.9 Tax exceptionalism is not a specific idea.\n56 In that Notice the 1RS proclaimed, without any explanatory rationale, that it was "studying" the application of section 382 to banks and that until further notice, section 382 would not apply to banks. Commentators reacted swiftly and negatively, pointing out that nothing in the text or legislative history of section 382 even remotely suggested that the provision should not apply to corporations that happened to be banks.5 Of course, Wells Fargo and Wachovia likely rejoiced, for the acquisition proceeded, but the issuance of the Notice, and a similar one that followed in 2010 regarding the sale of the Government's stake in General Motors,18 left distrust of the agency's action in its wake.