Court Opinion

ID: 4495842
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2020-01-23 18:14:32.731277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:13.301823
License: Public Domain

Smith,
dissenting: There appears to be no question but that the net income of the trust fund for 1931, before the deduction from the gross income of amounts paid to annuitants and amounts paid or set aside for charitable and educational purposes, was $164,339.39, as determined by the respondent. The trust paid to annuitants $22,350. The deduction of this amount was correctly disallowed by the respondent.
Section 162 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1928 permits the deduction from the gross income of the trust of “ any part of the gross income, without limitation, which pursuant to the terms of the will or deed creating the trust, is during the taxable year paid or permanently set aside for the purposes and in the manner specified in section 23 (n).” The amount paid to charities by the trust during 1931 was $190,000 or an amount in excess of the total gross income for the year. I am of the opinion that under section 162 (a) the petitioner *318was entitled to deduct from its gross income the full amount of $141,989.39, the difference between the net income as determined by the respondent and the amounts paid to annuitants. I can not believe that the theory invoked in the majority opinion to the effect that the trust must show from what receipts the payments to charities were made in order to have them deductible is responsive to the legislative intent. And it is the legislative intent which should control in the construction of the taxing statute.
It is further to be noted that the entire income of the trust fund was to be paid to charitable and other organizations referred to in section 23 (n) after the payment of expenses and annuities. If the trust fund is required to pay the tax determined by the Board in this case, the payment impinges upon the amount which would otherwise go to charities. In my opinion this was never contemplated by Congress and, as stated by the Supreme Court in Lederer v. Stockton, 260 U. S. 3: “ To allow the technical formality of the trust, which does not prevent the Hospital from really enjoying the income, would be to defeat the beneficent purpose of Congress.”