Don E. Williams Co. v. Commissioner

Mr. Justice Stewart, with whom Mr. Justice Powell joins,

dissenting.

The Court says that § 404 (a) “places all taxpayers on a cash basis with respect to payments to a qualified profit-sharing trust.” Ante, at 578. This assumption is the keystone of today’s decision, for only by treating the petitioner as a cash-method taxpayer can the Court apply the rule of Eckert v. Burnet, 283 U. S. 140, and Helvering v. Price, 309 U. S. *584409, to require the petitioner to have paid out “cash or its equivalent” in order to be allowed a deduction. But the assumption is just that — an assumption that is not…