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Bosch And The Binding Effect Of State Court Adjudications Upon Subsequent Federal Tax Litigation, William E. Martin

Vanderbilt Law Review

One of the unique facets of American federalism involves the interaction of state court decrees which determine or characterize an individual's property rights with subsequent federal court litigation which imposes the federal tax burden upon those rights. While Congress determines what relationships are to be taxed, state law creates and state court adjudications measure these relationships.' In 1934 the Supreme Court formulated the standard that the state court decision was to be followed by a federal tax court in the absence of collusion, since the decree established the state "law" in regard to the relevant property. However, the definitional and …