Federal Tax Law Research: Locating Legislative History Materials

Locating Legislative History Materials

Locating Legislative Histories by Code Section

Tax Management- Primary Sources, BNA, KF 6365.B87
This set includes five loose-leaf volumes of legislative history documents from 1969 onward. The legislative histories appear in code section order and include presidential messages, House and Senate reports, Conference reports and debates.
Federal Income, Gift and Estate Taxation, Rabkin and Johnson, KF 6335.A6 R32X
Volumes 6, 6A, 6B, 7, 7A, and 7B of this loose-leaf set are arranged in code section order and contain select committee reports concerning the 1954 Code only.
Seidman’s Legislative History of Federal Income Tax Laws, 1861-1938, KF 6369 .S54
Seidman’s Legislative History of Federal Income and Excess Profits Tax Laws, 1953-1939, KF 6356.5.A15x
- Seidman's is helpful in ascertaining the legislative history of provisions of the 1939 Code or earlier provisions. This series provides the text of Code sections, followed by committee reports, hearings citations, and citations to the Congressional Record.

Locating Legislative Histories by Public Law Number

A Guide and Analytical Index to the Internal Revenue Acts of the United States, 1909-1950, Reference KF6289 .R4 This work provides very comprehensive legislative histories. Its volumes include the congressional version of revenue bills and the full text of hearings, committee reports, and regulations. The set includes a chronological index, which lists the acts and all the items making up the acts' legislative histories.
Internal Revenue Bulletin, KF6301.A554
This is the official weekly publication of the Internal Revenue Service, which contains committee reports, conference reports, and the full text of tax laws in Part II. It is eventually compiled into the Cumulative Bulletin, KF 6301.A553
Westlaw: FTX-CB
Lexis: FEDTAX;CB
Internal Revenue Acts, KF 6276.524.A19 I57x
These pamphlets are issued on a yearly basis and are helpful in researching the text and history of sections from the 1954 and 1986 Codes. The pamphlets include the full text of recently enacted statutes in chronological order and, in the second section of the pamphlets, include the text of selected committee reports and Congressional Record statements.

Other Sources for Locating Legislative History

Westlaw: Federal Taxation Legislative History Database: FTX-LH This database contains the Congressional committee reports as reprinted in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News from 1948 through the present.
Lexis: Federal Tax Legislation, Congressional Reports, & Bills Database: FEDTAX;LEGIS This database contains selected House, Senate, and Conference Committee bills and reports, as well as Public Laws, from 1954 to the present.
Joint Committee Blue Books: http://www.house.gov/jct/tableofcnts.html

For additional information on locating legislative history materials in resources which are not tax-specific click on the following link to access the guide entitled Researching Legislative History.