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Realization, Recognition, Reconciliation, Rationality And The Structure Of The Federal Income Tax System, Patricia D. White

Michigan Law Review

There are a few structural requirements that are necessarily common to any tax system. In Part I of this article I examine those requirements. I show that by isolating the necessary structure of a tax system from its particular content or goals, we can better understand the role played within the federal system of certain of its most characteristic features. In particular, I trace the function of the realization requirement for the recognition of income and distinguish it from another sort of function that could lead to the recognition of income within an income tax system. This second function is …