The Mandatory Repatriation Tax - Unconstitutional?

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging the legality of the mandatory repatriation tax, or MRT, which imposes a one-time tax on offshore investment income. The tax applies regardless of whether the earnings were distributed to shareholders or whether the shareholders owned the shares when the corporation made the earnings on which they are being taxed. NPR's Nina Totenberg has two pieces about this case which is getting a lot of attention because of the implications a decision will have on many more important parts of the tax code. Totenberg's first presentation, before the case was argued before the Court, presents the facts of the case and explains what the legal questions are. 6 min. 56 sec. transcript available. 

The second reports on what happened during the oral arguments. 3 min. 48 sec. transcript available. One mistake in this transcript is found near the end when transcribing the Solicitor General's remarks. The transcript presents the SG's words as saying that a realization requirement is "inaccurate, profoundly historical and consistent with the text of the 16th Amendment...". In fact she characterised the requirement as "ahistorical, inconsistent with the text of the 16th Amendment". Quite a difference!