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Indeterminancy, Complexity, And Fairness: Justifying Rule Simplication In The Law Of Taxation, John A. Miller

Washington Law Review

This Article addresses the appropriateness of elaborate tax rules, that is, rules that are long, detailed, specific, and interconnected, by reference to the debate among jurisprudential scholars concerning the determinacy of law. It gives special attention to the works of Professors Anthony D'Amato, Kent Greenawalt, Ken Kress, and Frederick Schauer by placing their ideas concerning legal indeterminacy into the context of tax law. Professor D'Amato asserts that law is entirely indeterminate. Professor Greenawalt believes that "many legal questions have determinate answers." Professor Kress believes that "the indeterminacy of the law is no more than moderate." Professor Schauer argues that highly …