II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 51

To amend title 28 of the United States Code to clarify the remedial

jurisdiction of inferior Federal courts.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. THURMOND introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 28 of the United States Code to clarify

the remedial jurisdiction of inferior Federal courts.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Judicial Taxation

5 Prohibition Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds and declares that—

8 (1) a variety of effective and appropriate judi9 cial remedies are available for the full redress of

10 legal and constitutional violations under existing law,
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1 and that the imposition or increase of taxes by

2 courts is neither necessary nor appropriate for the

3 full and effective exercise of Federal court jurisdic4 tion;

5 (2) the imposition or increase of taxes by judi6 cial order constitutes an unauthorized and inappro7 priate exercise of the judicial power under the Con8 stitution of the United States and is incompatible

9 with traditional principles of American law and gov10 ernment and the basic American principle that tax11 ation without representation is tyranny;

12 (3) Federal courts exceed the proper boundaries

13 of their limited jurisdiction and authority under the

14 Constitution of the United States, and impermissibly

15 intrude on the legislative function in a democratic

16 system of government, when they issue orders re17 quiring the imposition of new taxes or the increase

18 of existing taxes; and

19 (4) the Congress retains the authority under ar20 ticle III, sections 1 and 2 of the Constitution of the

21 United States to limit and regulate the jurisdiction

22 of the inferior Federal courts which it has seen fit

23 to establish, and such authority includes the power

24 to limit the remedial authority of inferior Federal

25 courts.
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1 SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 28.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 85 of title 28, United

3 States Code, is amended by adding between sections 1341

4 and 1342, the following new section:

5 ‘‘§ 1341A. Prohibition of judicial imposition or in6 crease of taxes

7 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no

8 inferior court established by Congress shall have jurisdic9 tion to issue any remedy, order, injunction, writ, judg10 ment, or other judicial decree requiring the Federal Gov11 ernment or any State or local government to impose any

12 new tax or to increase any existing tax or tax rate.

13 ‘‘(b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit inferior

14 Federal courts from ordering duly authorized remedies,

15 otherwise within their jurisdiction, which may require ex16 penditures by Federal, State, or local government where

17 such expenditures are necessary to effectuate such rem18 edies.

19 ‘‘(c) For purposes of this section, the term ‘tax’

20 includes—

21 ‘‘(1) personal income taxes;

22 ‘‘(2) real and personal property taxes;

23 ‘‘(3) sales and transfer taxes;

24 ‘‘(4) estate and gift taxes;

25 ‘‘(5) excise taxes;

26 ‘‘(6) user taxes;
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1 ‘‘(7) corporate and business income taxes; and

2 ‘‘(8) licensing fees or taxes.’’.

3 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for

4 chapter 85 is amended by inserting between the item relat5 ing to section 1341 and the item relating to section 1342,

6 the following new item:

‘‘1341A. Prohibition of judicial imposition or increase of taxes.’’.

7 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

8 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

9 take effect on the date of enactment.

Æ