The Death of Tax Court Exceptionalism

Abstract

This Article turns to another area where tax exceptionalism persists: the status of the United States Tax Court in the modern administrative state.4 The Tax Court plays an important role in the life of the federal judiciary. It functions as a tax specialist and hears over ninety-five percent of federal tax-related litigation." The overall volume of its work is impressive. As of 1995, for instance, the court had heard ap- proximately 360,000 cases with total tax liabilities reaching about $34 billion.6 And the number of cases filed, closed, and still pending has generally risen each year. From 2000 to 2010, the Tax Court closed nearly 260,000 cases while nearly 265,000 cases were filed during the same period.7 Regardless of this large number of cases, the Tax Court still had over 250,000 cases pending.8 Of the cases closed, the court released written opinions for over 8,400 of them.19 The dollar amount is also staggering. In 2006, the Tax Court closed cases with an aggre- gate tax liability of nearly $7.4 billion.20 From fiscal year 2008 to 2012, the Tax Court closed cases with an aggregate amount exceeding $33 billion.'