Left: Solicitor General of the United States Elizabeth Prelogar (screengrab via YouTube); Right: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
All nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States — including Samuel Alito, who refused to recuse himself despite calls to do so — participated in Tuesday’s oral arguments in a case asking whether a Donald Trump-era “wealth tax” violates the Constitution. Alito had been asked to recuse himself because he had previously been interviewed by an attorney involved in the case, but the justice said there was no reason for him to avoid participating.
The case is Moore v. U.S., and it could have major implications on the federal government’s power to levy taxes under the Constitution.
The tax issue
The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, allowed the federal government to collect income taxes (as opposed to property taxes) without the necessity that the taxes be apportioned among the states. Prior to the amendment, nationwide income tax laws were often challenged, repealed, then readopted. After the amendment, the federal government’s tax power became robust and broad. At issue before the Court is whether that power is so broad as to permit Congress to impose an unapportioned tax on “unrealized” sums — those investment profits that exist only on paper and before they are sold for cash.
