出典-一般财団法人日本税务协会.doc

出典： /uploads/public/santiago/sop/United%20States%20-%20William%20B%20Barke.pdf THE U.S. APPROACH TO SEPARATION OF POWERS IN TAX MATTERS By William B. Barker? 1. Relationship between the Parliament and the Tax Authorities: The influence of the tax authorities on tax legislation The United States Constitution confers governmental powers on three branches of government, the legislature or Congress, which is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the President (or Executive Branch), and the courts.1 Much of the work of the Executive Branch is presently carried out by administrative agencies. Tax laws are administered by the Department of the Treasury, supervised by the Secretary. Most of this responsibility has been delegated to the Internal Revenue Service, a branch of the Department of the Treasury, which is led by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 1.1. Does your Government have legislative competence on tax matters? Assuming that the term government refers solely to the tax administration or Executive Branch of government, the answer is no. The United States Constitution vests all legislative powers in Congress.2 The Constitution specifically empowers Congress to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imports and Excises.3 The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution grants Congress the power to impose an income tax.4 ? I would like to express special thanks to Victor T. Thuronyi, who provided helpful comments and critical insights in the preparation of this paper. 1 This work deals exclusively with the administration of tax laws at the level of the national government and does not deal with these issues at the state government level. The United States is a federal system established by the U.S. Constitution comprised of federal or national government and fifty subordinate semi-sovereign states. State governments are competent to legislate on tax matters within their boundaries. 2 U.S. CONST. Art. I, § 1. 3 Id., § 8. 4 U.S. CONST., 16th Amend. 1