Tax law covers a broad range of property and transactions which are subject to taxation, such as property value, transactions (transfers and sales), licenses granting a right and/or income. The taxes involved in tax law include federal and state income taxes, county and city taxes on real property, state and/or local sales tax based on a percentage of each retail transaction, duties on imports from foreign countries, business licenses, federal tax (and some states' taxes) on the estates of persons who have died, taxes on large gifts and a state "use" tax in lieu of sales tax imposed on certain goods bought outside of the state.
Congress is empowered to tax "incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." The Internal Revenue Code is today embodied as Title 26 of the United States Code (26 U.S.C.). Individuals as well as corporations are required to file income tax returns. While coporations are subject to may of the same rules as are individual taxpayers, they are also covered by an intricate body of rules addressed to the peculiar problems of corporations.
