The IRS describes the formal tax legislative process in a helpful flowchart on p. 1 of its lesson: How Taxes Evolve. This chart shows who considers a tax bill originating in the U.S. House of Representatives:
House Ways and Means Committee > Full House > Senate Finance Committee > Full Senate > Joint Conference Committee > if differences in text of House & Senate bills: House/Senate Compromise Bill (House & Senate both must pass compromise bill before this bill could be sent to the President - President could sign or veto this bill)
Christopher C. Dykes provides a more detailed description of this legislative process and documents (in particular: committee reports) that could be generated during stages of this process on pp. 46-49 of Federal Income Tax Law: A Legal Research Guide (2010). To access the first edition (2010) of this guide from off-campus locations: implement the BLS proxy server instructions for 1 web browser. Note: If using BLS Library's newer print Federal Income Tax Law: A Legal Research Guide (2nd ed. 2021), see pp. 42-44.
Check to see if there is an existing legislative history regarding the U.S. federal tax law(s) you need to research:
Online:
HeinOnline: U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection and Tax Legislative Histories (143 available)
Tip: In HeinOnline: Tax Legislative Histories, default page = Browse by Publication Title. Also supports browsing by Public Law number and popular name of legislation.
Proquest Congressional: advanced search form supports searches for legislative histories from 1969- and links to documents in the legislative histories.
Tip: ProQuest Congressional: Provides bills and laws (1776-), House and Senate documents/reports (1817-), hearings (1824-), the Congressional Record (1985-), vote reports (1987-) and legislative histories (1969-).
Proquest Legislative Insight: search form supports searches for older legislative histories and links to documents in the legislative histories.
Lexis: provides advanced search form for legislative histories and advanced search form for IRC legislative history.
Westlaw: provides advanced search form for federal tax legislative history.
Checkpoint Edge: supports retrieval of a section in Internal Revenue Code (RIA) that links to Committee Reports (might be a citation to a report or might be text reproduced from a report) and History (of the Code section).
Path from Federal page: Table of Contents > Federal Source Materials > Code, Regulations ... > Internal Revenue Code > Current Code > drill down to desired Code section (see gray tabs: Com Rpts and Hist)
See also Federal Legislative History Research guide created by Eric Yap. Feel free to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu for legislative history research help.
Print:
Union List of Legislative Histories, compiled by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., Inc., Legislative Research Special Interest Section. No longer updated. [KF4 .U55 2000 - Reference]
Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories:A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles and Books, 1st Congress-114th Congress compiled by Ronald E. Wheeler and Jenna E. Fegreus. [KF42.2 .S6 2018 - Reference]
Committee Reports:
ProQuest Congressional: Includes House and Senate reports (1817-)
Tip: Advanced Search supports searches in category: House and Senate Documents/Reports.
Lexis: Committee Reports (selected coverage:1981-1982, 1989-1992, 1993-)
Westlaw: U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News: Congressional Committee Reports (1948-)
Westlaw: United States Tax Reporter: All Committee Reports
Free Source:
Congress.gov: Includes committee reports (1995-).
Technically not legislative history, but provides detailed explanations of tax laws enacted during a particular U.S. Congress and "effective dates" of provisions:
Free Source:
The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress of the United States, General Explanation of Tax Legislation Enacted in The ... Congress ("Bluebook") (1969-)
For each tax provision, the Joint Committee's staff provides "a description of present law, an explanation of the [new] provision, and the effective date." An Appendix explains the budget effects of tax legislation discussed in the Bluebook.
Not part of legislative history, but the Library of Congress' CRS prepares these reports and issue briefs for members and committees of Congress:
Free Source:
Congress.gov: Search [CRS] Reports
Source Focused on the Tax-Related CRS Reports:
Westlaw: Federal Taxation: Congressional Research Service (1989-)
Hearings, Debates and Floor Statements:
ProQuest Congressional: Provides hearings (1824-) and Congressional Record (1985-)
HeinOnline: Congressional Record (1873-2016)
Lexis: Congressional Hearings (1824-)
Westlaw: U.S. Congressional Testimony (1993-)
If needed, search BLS Library online catalog SARA for holdings of hearings in print and in microform.
Free Sources:
Congress.gov: Links to a schedule of future House and Senate committee meetings and hearings, videos of House committee hearings and the Congressional Record (1873-).
govInfo: Congressional Hearings (1945-1946, 1955-)
govinfo: Congressional Record [Daily Edition] (1994-)
govinfo: Congressional Record [Bound Edition] (1873-)
U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee
See Rule 13 of the Bluebook regarding citation to Bills and Resolutions, Hearings, Reports, Documents, Committee Prints, Debates and Bound Legislative Histories.