Overview
Arthur Rosen, in this “self-interview,” described troubling state tax litigation in which he has been involved. In such cases, he explained, state revenue departments fail to make clear “that the job of auditors is not to look for ways to raise revenue, but rather to make sure that the law was followed correctly, and that a taxpayer’s reasonable interpretation of any ambiguous statute should be given some weight.” Tax authorities, he continued, “should be taught that their agency’s responsibility is to execute or administer laws, and not to see how much money they can produce through ‘creative,’ tortuous interpretations of statutes or through torturing taxpayers.”
