Landmark filed an amicus brief on September 6 in support of the Petitioners in Charles G. Moore et ux. v. United States at the merits stage. This case will have massive impact on the ability of Congress to enact a wealth tax, a tax that goes directly to your assets even if you don’t sell them or receive income from them.
Imagine you owned shares of stock in a foreign company (technically, a CFC- a foreign corporation controlled by U.S. shareholders). One day Congress decides that you must pay taxes on a proportional share for all the company’s earnings that it held on to and did not distribute to shareholders in dividends- potentially going all the way back to 1987. We argued that this wasn’t an income tax, because the Moores did not realize any gain. They did not receive a penny from the foreign company and did not sell their shares. Instead, it was a direct tax on their shares. Direct taxes are a type of tax that have to be apportioned by population like congressional seats under the Constitution. We discuss the history of direct taxes in the founding era as well as the Direct Tax and Apportionment Clauses of the Constitution in our brief. This case will be heard in the Supreme Court’s new term starting in October.
Read about the case here.