Texas Wesleyan Law Review
Publication Date
10-1-1998
Document Type
Note
Abstract
The Fifth Circuit chose to recognize a judicially-created exception to the statute in Johnson v. Sawyer. This Note takes issue with the Fifth Circuit's holding in Johnson. The IRS is a creature of statute and, as such, should be governed by statute. If any further life is given the agency, it is for Congress, and not the judiciary to declare. If taxpayers convicted in the Fifth Circuit are to have their transgressions publicized, it should be with the specific approval of their elected representatives. Part I of this Note traces the development of judiciallycreated exceptions to I.R.C. § 6103 in the federal circuits. Part II reviews Johnson at its various levels and analyzes the reasoning of the Fifth Circuit in finding an exception to the statute. Part III discusses the flaws in the Fifth Circuit's reasoning, along with the weaknesses inherent in the rule it adopted, and asserts the rule advanced by the Tenth and Fourth Circuits as proper.
DOI
10.37419/TWLR.V5.I1.4
First Page
79
Last Page
98
Recommended Citation
Darrell Calvin,
How Far Do the Powers of the I.R.S. Extend in the Fifth Circuit? Johnson v. Sawyer,
5
Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev.
79
(1998).
Available at:
https://doi.org/10.37419/TWLR.V5.I1.4