Also known as: taxes · taxed · taxing · taxation · levy · impost · duty
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A compulsory exaction of money by governmental authority for public purposes.
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Tristan Thompson contracts to sell land to Tiffany Torres. At closing the title company withholds funds to cover an unreleased tax lien. Torres refuses to close because the lien renders title unmarketable under the contract standard.
Congress enacts a statute imposing an excise on imported goods. Tanner Thompson, an importer, challenges the levy as nonuniform. The court sustains the tax because the Constitution grants Congress power to lay and collect taxes that are uniform throughout the United States.
Thomas Thompson is served with a summons in a tax-collection suit. He receives a request to waive formal service. Thompson signs the waiver to avoid the expense of a marshal delivering process.
Tamara Tan is called to testify about a tax assessment record. Before taking the stand she swears an oath to testify truthfully concerning the figures she personally observed while performing her reporting duty.
Tonya Takahashi, treasurer of Threshold Capital, prepares the company's quarterly tax returns. She acts in good faith and with the care a person in her position would reasonably exercise under similar circumstances.
Titan Industries owes a legal duty to file and pay employment taxes. Its controller fails to make any effort to file the returns. The controller is liable as an accomplice because the duty to prevent the offense was not performed.
An unreleased tax lien constitutes a recorded encumbrance that creates reasonable doubt for a prudent purchaser. The buyer may refuse to close and seek rescission or damages unless the contract provides otherwise.
Congress may lay and collect taxes to pay debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare, but duties, imposts, and excises must be uniform throughout the United States.
Before testifying, a witness must give an oath or affirmation to testify truthfully in a form designed to impress that duty on the witness's conscience.
…capacities: as a public ministerial officer of the United States and as agent of the President. In the first capacity his duty is to the United States or its citizens; in the other his duty is to the President. In the former capacity he is compellable by mandamus to do his duty; in the latter he is not. This…