Comparing the
Decision Making of Specialized Courts and General Courts: An Exploration of Tax
Decisions
Robert
M. Howard
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a unique federal agency because it is
subject to the jurisdiction of different trial courts, the two most important of
which are the United States Tax Court, a specialized court of limited
jurisdiction, and the United States District Court, a court of general
jurisdiction. This article offers an exploratory comparison of the tax-case
decision-making process of the United States Tax Court and the United States
District Courts. Using data from
1996 and 1997, the article examines the differences in decision making of these
courts, specifically focusing on expertise and ideology. The United States Tax
Court uses its expertise and lack of realistic structural or hierarchical
constraints to decide the cases in a far more ideological manner than does the
district court; this is consistent with the complexity and political nature of
tax assessment and tax collection.
ToC
JSJ
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