Most revenue-raising law comes from legislative enactment. Taxation by Congress creates no due process concerns because the people have control over who sits in Congress. Congress gets its authority to govern from the governed; further, elected representatives are presumed to keep the citizenry informed and on notice of legislation.

However, the authority to impose a tax may be delegated by Congress to agencies. In such cases, the decision to tax is not being made by elected representatives. Therefore, when administrative bodies engage in revenue-raising rulemaking, due process requires that notice to the public be given and that taxpayers be provided an opportunity to be heard. In addition to due process concerns, the delegation itself must give the agency an “intelligible principle” from which to act.