Law Commons^™

The Historical Origins Of The Patterns Of Taxpayer Standing, Charlotte Crane

Charlotte Crane

In this article, I explore the pattern, sometimes described as puzzling, according to which the federal courts have sometimes considered the claims of a local taxpayer sufficient to allow a challenge the activities of the taxpaying entity, while rarely finding the claims of a state or federal taxpayer sufficient. I trace this pattern to the doctrines according to which local governments were seen as having taxing powers conditioned upon the ways in which the funds raised are to be spent. Since such doctrines never applied to impose judiciable limits on the taxing powers of either states or the federal government, …