Partner Andrew Grossman is quoted in an article published on July 22, 2021, in Law360 Tax Authority. The article, “Repatriation Tax is Constitutional, US Gov’t Tells 9th Circ.,” discusses the U.S. government’s recent argument urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold a Washington federal judge’s order that dismissed a tax refund suit brought by Charles and Kathleen Moore, who had contended that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s repatriation provision violated the U.S. Constitution. The article noted that the Moores are represented by Partners Andrew Grossman, David Rivkin Jr. and Jeffrey Paravano, and Associate Sean Sandoloski, as well as by the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
The Moores had argued that the measure was a direct tax on personal property — specifically, their shares in a foreign corporation — that violated the U.S. Constitution’s Sixteenth Amendment, which requires direct taxes to be apportioned based on state population. Grossman said that, “[I]n the government's view, taxable ‘income’ under the Constitution is anything that the government chooses to tax, including private property.”
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