Court Opinion

ID: 9637331
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:03:40.118848+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:55.433883
License: Public Domain

FRANK, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
The doctrine of Bennet v. Helvering, 2 Cir., 137 F.2d 537, 149 A.L.R. 1146, seems to me to be unquestionably sound. But I cannot say the same of Johnston v. Helvering, 2 Cir., 141 F.2d 208, and I concur only because I feel that in this Circuit we are bound by that decision as a precedent. Had I been sitting in the Johnston case, I would have dissented.
Suppose that, by a state statute, trustees of land were required to convey to the life tenant, as part of the life tenant’s “income,” one-tenth of the land in fees. I think the fiat of state law would not control, that the conveyance would not be taxable as income under the Sixteenth Amendment, or the federal income tax statute. Wherefore, I think the conclusion in the Johnston case was mistaken. See, e. g., United States v. Pelzer, 312 U.S. 399, 402-403, 61 S.Ct. 659, 85 L.Ed. 913; Morgan v. Commissioner, 309 U.S. 78, 80-81, 626, 60 S.Ct. 424, 84 L.Ed. 585; Lyeth v. Hoey, 305 U.S. 188, 193-194, 9 S.Ct. 155, 83 L.Ed. 119, 119 A.L.R. 410; Burnet v. Harmel, 287 U.S. 103, 110, 53 S.Ct. 74, 77 L.Ed. 199; Merchants Loan & Trust Co. v. Smietanka, 255 U.S. 509, 521, 41 S.Ct. 386, 65 L.Ed. 751, 15 A.L.R. 1305; Irish v. Commissioner, 3 Cir., 129 F.2d 468, 471; Welch v. Solo*348mon, 9 Cir., 99 F.2d 41, 44; Burdick v. Commissioner, 3 Cir., 76 F.2d 672, 673, 99 A.L.R. 515.