The resources on this page are specific to tax legislative history. You can find general legislative history resources on the Legal Research FAQs guide.
Here are some other legislative history guides that might be of use:
Federal Legislative History, from UCLA School of Law
Federal Legislative History, from Villanova University School of Law
Federal Legislative History Research, from Stanford Law School
Internal Revenue Code of 1939 (Westlaw)
Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (Westlaw)
Internal Revenue Code Archives (Bloomberg)
All of these are available through the Loyola Law Library website.
ProQuest Congressional - comprehensive collection of congressional documents from 1789 to the present. Access through main Loyola libraries site.
ProQuest Legislative Insight - Federal legislative history service that provides access to thoroughly researched compilations of full-text publications created by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws. You can find a User's guide at https://proquest.libguides.com/legislativeinsight.
ProQuest Regulatory Insight - Access to federal administrative law histories, organized by federal statute and Executive Order, allowing researchers to locate regulations that have been promulgated because of a particular law. You can find a user's guide at https://proquest.libguides.com/reginsight.
House Bills are introduced in the Ways and Means Committee. The committee can send a bill to the full House for approval. Bills in the Senate are introduced in the Senate Finance Committee, which can send a bill to the full Senate. Any differences between House and Senate bills, the bill is referred to the Joint Conference Committee.
Here are some resources for tracking bills:
Tax Proposed and Enacted Legislation, Westlaw
You can look in Legislative Histories for historical bills.
Cite bills using Bluebook Rule 13.2, Bills and Resolutions.
Please remember you need a password to access these sites.
Both the House and the Senate prepare Committee Reports for bills. "When a bill is introduced in the House, a Committee Report is published which often states the reason the bill is being proposed. This reasoning establishes the legislative intent behind the enacted law...The Senate Finance Committee holds hearings and prepares a report explaining any changes made to the House bill. A Conference Committee later resolves any differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill and issues its own report...Committee Reports are useful tools to determine Congressional intent behind certain tax laws." - from Committee Reports, IRM § 4.10.7.2.2
Committee Reports are published in full in the Congressional Record and in part in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB).
Online sources for tax committee reports include:
United States Tax Reporter, All Committee Reports (RIA), on Westlaw
House Ways and Means Committee Reports, on Bloomberg
Senate Committee on Finance Reports, on Bloomberg
Governmental Accountability Office Reports, Federal Tax. on Westlaw
US Code Congress and Administrative News, Westlaw
Cite Committee Reports using Bluebook Rule 13.4, Reports, Documents, and Committee Prints.
"Out of Committee, the bill goes to the floor of the House where the presiding officer “reads the bill into the Congressional Record,” and, within the parameters set by the Rules Committee, opens the floor for debate. If there is debate, it is usually included in the Congressional Record." (Floor of the House, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law)
"Analogous to the procedures in the House Chamber, once a bill is reported out of Senate Finance, it goes to the floor of the Senate where the Senate votes on whether to approve the bill, provided it is not filibustered or withdrawn. As in the House, debates usually are recorded in the Congressional Record." (Floor of the Senate, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law)
You can find the Congressional Record on GovInfo (free), congress.gov (free), Westlaw, or Lexis.
Cite Debates using Bluebook Rule 13.5
" During hearings, the committee hears from witnesses on the advisability of the legislation. This can include the Treasury's Assistant Secretary of Tax Policy, high-level IRS employees, tax practitioners, legal scholars, and others. Hearings are sometimes but not always transcribed." (House Ways and Means, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law.)
Some sources for hearing transcripts include:
House Ways and Means Committee website
Senate Committee on Finance website
Hearings, in Taxation & Economic Reform in America Parts I & II, 1781-2010, HeinOnline
IRC Legislative History, Lexis
US Political Transcripts, Westlaw
Cite hearings using Bluebook Rule 13.3(a), Federal committee hearings.
"The staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) may prepare various materials for the committee's use during hearings and mark-up sessions. These materials are generally called Committee prints. Committee prints may also include revenue estimates and alternative bills proposed by opponents of the bill under consideration." (House Ways and Means, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law.)
You can find Joint Committee on Taxation (JCS) prints on Westlaw.
Cite committee prints using Bluebook Rule 13.4.
"When the President signs or vetoes a bill, the President may issue a signing statement or a veto message stating his or her rationale for the action taken. In addition, the President may issue a message upon proposing legislation" (Presidential Statements, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law)
These are all general sources.
Compilation of Presidential Documents on GovInfo.
ProQuest Congressional (access through LUC Library website) has some presidential materials.
US Presidential Library on HeinOnline
For Bluebook citations, look under Executive Office of the President in T1.
Online:
Taxation & Economic Reform in America Parts I & II from HeinOnline
Internal Revenue Code Historical Notes (RIA), on Westlaw
Internal Revenue Acts of the United States: Revenue Act of 1954 with Legislative Histories and Congressional Documents - available on HeinOnline or in Law Library stacks at KF 6276.527 .A19 U492
Seidman's legislative history of federal income tax laws, 1938-1861 and Seidman's legislative history of federal income and excess profits tax laws, 1953-1939
Tax Reform 1986 - legislative history of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Available online or in Law Library stacks at KF6276.557 .A15 1987
Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015: a legislative history of Public Law no. 114-113 Division Q.
Legislative History of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act - related to tax legislation in 2017, from Drexel University
"The Joint Committee on Taxation is a nonpartisan committee of the United States Congress, originally established under the Revenue Act of 1926...The Joint Committee Staff is closely involved with every aspect of the tax legislative process, including:
from JCT Website.
You can find all JCT publications on the JCT website.
JCT Publications include:
Joint Committee on Taxation Bluebooks - "The JCT issues a post-enactment report, which, while technically not part of the legislative history, may be relevant to legislative history analysis. On major pieces of legislation, its staff publishes a General Explanation of the enacted legislation. This post-enactment report has become known as the “Blue Book,” and it often contains comprehensive analysis and explanation of the legislation." (The Blue Book, Portfolio 100-3d, Bloomberg Law)
Westlaw and Lexis also have a collections of Joint Committee on Taxation documents.
