Levine v. Commissioner

IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Chief Judge:

One suspects that because the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 piles exceptions upon exclusions, it invites efforts to outwit the tax collector. The case before us is an example of adroit taxpayers seizing upon words in the Code which, if interpreted as they urge, would distort congressional intent and violate well-established rules of statutory construction. We therefore reverse the decision of the Tax Court favoring the taxpayers, 63 T.C. 136 (1974).

I

The facts in this case have been stipulated. On December 30, 1968 David H. Levine, a Connecticut resident,…