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Executive Order 10672 ⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight Constitutional Neutral (+0.02) 📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority

Executive Order 10672—Withholding of District of Columbia Income Taxes by Federal Agencies

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Monday, July 9, 1956
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5 min read (1,040 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 5 min read (1,040 words) • ● In Effect
🎯 Primary Mandate

I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the agreement to be entered into between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, pursuant to the provisions of the said section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, with respect to the withholding of District of Columbia income taxes from the compensation of employees of the United States. 1.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
⚖️✨ Zone 2: Zone of Twilight
Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
📜 Art. II §2: Commander-in-Chief Supervisory Authority
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Armed Forces & Military Establishments Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 9, 1956, this order concerns Withholding of District of Columbia Income Taxes by Federal Agencies. I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the agreement to be entered into between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, pursuant to the provisions of the said section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, with respect to the withholding of District of Columbia income taxes from the compensation of employees of…

Constitutional Assessment: Scrutinized through Article II, Section 2, this action exercises the President's constitutional role as Commander in Chief. Early Framers recognized broad executive discretion in commanding military forces during conflict, provided it remains bounded by congressional declarations and respects civilian domestic courts.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the agreement to be entered into between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, pursuant to the provisions of the said section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, with respect to the withholding of District of Columbia income taxes from the compensation of employees of the United States. 1.

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The said agreement shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury with the Commissioners of the District of Columbia within 120 days of the receipt of a request therefor by the Secretary from the Commissioners: Provided, That such agreement shall be consistent with the provisions of the said District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as amended, and of rules and regulations issued thereunder, and shall be subject to any amendment of any such provisions, including amendments occurring after the effective date of such agreement. 2.

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Such agreement (a) shall provide that the head of each agency of the United States shall comply with the requirements of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as amended, with respect to employees of such agency who are subject to income taxes imposed by such act and whose regular place of employment is within the District of Columbia, (b) shall specify when the withholding of taxes shall commence, and (c) shall provide for procedures for the withholding, the filing of the returns, and the payment of the tax to the District of Columbia which conform, so far as practicable, to the usual fiscal practices of agencies of the United States. 3.

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Such agreement shall not apply with respect to compensation for service as a member of the armed forces of the United States, or with respect to compensation of an employee who does not have a place of abode, or does not reside or is not domiciled, within the District of Columbia at the time tax is required to be withheld, and shall not require collection by agencies of the United States of delinquent tax liabilities of federal employees. 4.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Armed Forces & Military Establishments 🏛️ Merchants, Importers & Commercial Enterprises 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Financial Institutions & Monetary Authorities
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

⚖️✨ Zone 2 (Zone of Twilight)
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"When the President acts in absence of either a congressional grant or denial of authority, he can only rely upon his own independent powers, but there is a zone of twilight in which he and Congress may have concurrent authority."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"Power is of an encroaching nature, and it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it." — Federalist No. 48 (1788)

Madison would view this order with watchful scrutiny. Operating in the 'Zone of Twilight' where Congress is silent, each such directive establishes an administrative precedent that steadily expands the executive perimeter at the expense of legislative primacy.

Madisonian Stance: Vigilant / Cautionary
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"The direction of war implies the direction of the common strength; and the power of directing and employing the common strength must be under the direction of the single hand of the Executive." — Federalist No. 74 (1788)

Hamilton would forcefully champion executive discretion here. For foreign entanglements, commerce defense, and national security, deliberative assemblies are too slow and faction-ridden. A unified, energetic Executive exercising swift command is precisely what the Philadelphia Convention intended for national preservation.

Hamiltonian Stance: Strong Prerogative Support
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The president will be surrounded by flatterers and sycophants... and the great powers of the executive will gradually absorb the liberties of the people." — Cato IV (Anti-Federalist, 1787)

The Anti-Federalist prism advises continuous democratic vigilance. Even routine administrative directives aggregate centralized federal power away from town halls and state assemblies toward a distant executive apparatus.

Anti-Federalist Stance: Eternal Vigilance Required
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
42 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Low Friction

Exercises standard supervisory executive authority to faithfully execute existing statutes.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Moderate Friction

The order relies on inherent Article II executive discretion, civil service management, or foreign diplomacy where Congress has neither expressly approved nor prohibited action.

Benchmark: Concurrent Authority / Congressional Silence
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
1,040
6,187 characters
Estimated Read Time
5 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
33.3
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.02
Constitutional Neutral
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document

By virtue of the authority vested in me by section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as added by section 11 of the District of Columbia Revenue Act of 1956, approved March 31, 1956 (70 Stat. 77), and section 301 of title 3 of the United States Code, and as President of the United States, I hereby prescribe the following regulations governing the agreement to be entered into between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, pursuant to the provisions of the said section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, with respect to the withholding of District of Columbia income taxes from the compensation of employees of the United States. 1. The said agreement shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury with the Commissioners of the District of Columbia within 120 days of the receipt of a request therefor by the Secretary from the Commissioners: Provided, That such agreement shall be consistent with the provisions of the said District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as amended, and of rules and regulations issued thereunder, and shall be subject to any amendment of any such provisions, including amendments occurring after the effective date of such agreement. 2. Such agreement (a) shall provide that the head of each agency of the United States shall comply with the requirements of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as amended, with respect to employees of such agency who are subject to income taxes imposed by such act and whose regular place of employment is within the District of Columbia, (b) shall specify when the withholding of taxes shall commence, and (c) shall provide for procedures for the withholding, the filing of the returns, and the payment of the tax to the District of Columbia which conform, so far as practicable, to the usual fiscal practices of agencies of the United States. 3. Such agreement shall not apply with respect to compensation for service as a member of the armed forces of the United States, or with respect to compensation of an employee who does not have a place of abode, or does not reside or is not domiciled, within the District of Columbia at the time tax is required to be withheld, and shall not require collection by agencies of the United States of delinquent tax liabilities of federal employees. 4. Nothing in this order, or in the rules or regulations issued thereunder, or in the agreement entered into pursuant thereto, shall be construed as giving consent to the application of any provision of law which has the effect of imposing more burdensome requirements upon the United States than it imposes upon other employers, or which has the effect of subjecting the United States or any of its officers or employees to any penalty or liability. 5. The head of each agency shall designate, or provide for the designation of, the officers or employees whose duty it shall be to withhold taxes, file required returns, and direct payment of such taxes withheld, in accordance with the terms of the agreement entered into between the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia. 6. As used in this order— (a) The term "agency" includes each department, commission, authority, administration, board, or other independent establishment of the Government of the United States, including any wholly-owned instrumentality of the United States, and each unit of the legislative branch of the United States, but such term does not include governments of the possessions or units of the judicial branch of the United States. (b) The term "armed forces of the United States" includes all regular and reserve components of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. (c) The term "employees" as applied to employees of the United States includes officers and other individuals appointed by a federal officer and engaged in the performance of federal functions in an agency as defined in paragraph (a) above, under authority of an act of Congress or an Executive order, who in the performance of their duties are supervised and directed by a federal officer, but the term does not include retired personnel, pensioners, annuitants, or similar beneficiaries of the Federal Government, whether their status is civilian or in the armed forces of the United States, who are not performing active service, or persons receiving remuneration for services on a contract-fee basis. The term shall include an officer of a corporation, but shall not include any elective officer of the Government of the United States or any officer or employee in the legislative branch of the Government of the United States whose compensation is paid by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, or any officer of the executive branch of the Government whose appointment to the office held by him was by the President of the United States and subject to confirmation by the Senate of the United States and whose tenure of office is at the pleasure of the President of the United States, unless such officer of the executive branch is domiciled within the District of Columbia on the last day of the taxable year. (d) The term "regular place of federal employment" means the place where an employee actually performs his services, irrespective of his residence, except when such services are performed in a travel or temporary-duty status, in which case the "regular place of federal employment" means the place to which the employee will normally be expected to proceed for the purpose of performing further services in connection with his federal employment on the termination of travel or temporary-duty status. I hereby delegate to the Secretary of the Treasury authority to prescribe such rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith as may be necessary to further effectuate the provisions of section 8 (k) of Title XII of the District of Columbia Income and Franchise Tax Act of 1947, as amended, or of this order. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

July 9, 1956.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 10,672 (July 9, 1956), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-10672-withholding-district-columbia-income-taxes-federal-agencies.