John Roberts Martin Shirley Mae Martin Bernard J. Spanski and Margaret L. Spanski v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge.

Taxpayers, John Roberts Martin and Bernard J. Spanski, 1 appeal from the United States Tax Court’s decision 2 upholding the Commissioner’s assessment of taxes on benefits they received under Title VII of the Northeast Rail Service Act as terminated Consolidated Rail Corporation (ConRail) employees. Taxpayers concede that the payments are includable in gross income under section 61, 3 but contend that such payments are “in the nature of unemployment compensation” under section 85. These are test cases for approximately 4,500 to 5,400 similarly situated former ConRail…