Court Opinion

ID: 9433347
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:39:54.77698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:40.775940
License: Public Domain

Justice Thomas,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree with the majority that the Bankruptcy Court improperly relied on 11 U. S. C. § 510(c) to subordinate the United States’ claims, and I join Part III of the Court’s opinion. I cannot agree, however, with the majority’s determi*230nation that assessments under 26 U. S. C. § 4971(a) are not “excise taxes” within the meaning of 11 U. S. C. § 507(a)(7)(E) (1988 ed.). I would hold that every congressionally enacted tax that is generally considered an excise tax is entitled to bankruptcy priority under § 507(a)(7)(E).
Section 507(a)(7)(E) creates a bankruptcy priority for excise taxes. Congress, in enacting § 4971, purported to enact a tax, see 26 U. S. C. § 4971(a) (“[T]here is hereby imposed a tax . . .”), and the tax it enacted is properly considered an excise tax. See Commissioner v. Keystone Consol. Industries, Inc., 508 U. S. 152, 161 (1993) (stating, in dicta, that § 4971 imposes an excise tax). It is true that New Jersey v. Anderson, 203 U. S. 483 (1906), and its progeny held that whether a state assessment is entitled to bankruptcy priority as a tax is a federal question. See id., at 492; City of New York v. Feiring, 313 U. S. 283, 285 (1941). It is not appropriate, however, for federal courts to perform a similar inquiry into valid taxes passed by Congress, and the majority cites no case in which this Court has denied bankruptcy priority to a congressionally enacted tax. I respectfully dissent.