Getting a Poor Return: Courts, Justice, and Taxes

This title examines competing claims and beliefs about the American legal system in the area of tax policy and tax enforcement.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgments 1. Tax Policy and the Pursuit of Justice Courts and Justice Taxes and Tax Policy Courts, Fairness, and Taxes Chapter Overview 2. Courts and the IRS The Need for Tax Forums Administrative Appeals and Trial Courts: Options and Odds Conclusion 3. Tax Litigation and Tax Forum Choice Political Forces and Litigation The Decision to Litigate and Forum Strategy Hypotheses Factors Infl uencing Litigation and Forum Choice Results Conclusion 4. Tax Decision Making Courts, Law, and Politics Taxpayers, Courts, and Outcomes Hypotheses Results Conclusion 5. Influences on the IRS and the Audits of Low-Income Taxpayers Bureaucratic Control and the IRS The National Political Coalition, Courts, and Bureaucratic Control Hypotheses Testing Infl uences Results Conclusion 6. Courts, Fairness, and the Creation and Enforcement of National Tax Policy Courts, Fairness, and National Governing Coalitions Changing Tax Policy, Changing the Courts Appendix Methodology and the Use of Panel Data Estimation Problems Models for Chapter Three Models for Chapter Four Models for Chapter Five Cases Cited Notes References Index

About the Author :
Robert M. Howard is Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University.

Review :
"...Howard provides a most insightful examination of how U.S. tax policy is shaped by the U.S. District Court and the more specialized U.S. Tax Court ... this book has implications far beyond tax policy. Most impressively, it investigates why litigants choose to file their tax suits in particular venues, as well as how those courts render their decisions. In so doing, it advances our understanding of two of the most significant aspects of the study of law and courts: litigation strategies and judicial decision making." - American Review of Politics "The book fits nicely at the intersection of several well-developed and important literatures, including judicial decision-making, litigant choice, 'upperdogs versus underdogs,' bureaucratic discretion, and congressional-executive relations ... the emphasis on the low-income litigant's plight is a powerful way of contextualizing the larger study and accentuating why such an inquiry is so important." - Law and Politics Book Review