Supreme Court Considers Constitutional Limits on Federal Taxing Power

A retired couple says a 2017 tax on income they never actually received from an investment abroad violates the 16th Amendment.

United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch poses for an official portrait at the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building in Washington, on Oct. 7, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

A retired Washington state couple urged the Supreme Court on Dec. 5 to strike down a 2017 tax on “unrealized” income from overseas investments, a move some say could jeopardize current tax code provisions and handcuff Congress.

Legal observers are watching the case, Moore v. United States (court file 22-800), because the court could use it to strike down the Mandatory Repatriation Tax (MRT), also known as the Section 965 transition tax, which was part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act approved by the Republican-controlled Congress in 2017 and signed into law by then-President Donald Trump.