Court Opinion

ID: 9460276
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:46:16.207149+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:33.274841
License: Public Domain

WEBSTER, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
I concur in the holding of the majority opinion that a tax refund does not qualify for protection under the Consumer Credit Protection Act. I respectfully dissent, however, from the holding that a tax refund resulting from compulsory minimum withholding required by law for federal and state income tax purposes is not “property” within the meaning of § 70(a)(5) of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C. § 110(a)(5). I believe that Cedor1 unduly extended the narrow holding of Lines v. Frederick, 400 U.S. 18, 91 S.Ct. 113, 27 L.Ed.2d 124 (1970), which was confined to the unique characteristics of vacation pay. Instead, I am fully persuaded by the reasoning of the Second Circuit in Kokoszka,2 which holds such refunds to be § 70(a)(5) “property”.
*675I cannot accept the compromise implicit in the majority opinion, which would treat as “property” only that portion of the refund attributable to taxes withheld in excess of the mandatory requirements. Nor am I impressed by the argument that substantial numbers of wage earners may rely upon routine tax refunds to meet the subsistence requirements of their families. While this may be so, it is a consideration materially different from the expectation of vacation pay to cover a specific period when the wage earner would otherwise have no source of income. Finally, as noted in Kokoszka, supra, debtors who face the situation where their non-exempt assets will be entirely eaten up by administration costs, leaving nothing for creditors, can move the bankruptcy court for an order of abandonment. 470 F.2d at 996.
I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.

. In Re Cedor, 337 F.Supp. 1103 (N.D.Cal.), aff’d mem, sub nom. In Re James, 470 F.2d 996 (9th Cir. 1972), cert. denied sub nom. Walsh v. Cedor, 411 U.S. 973, 93 S.Ct. 2148, 36 L.Ed.2d 697 (1973).

. In Re Kokoszka, 479 F.2d 990 (2d Cir. 1973), cert. granted sub nom. Kokoszka v. Belford, 414 U.S. 1091, 94 S.Ct. 721, 38 L.Ed.2d 548 (U.S. Dec. 11, 1973). See also Judge Larson’s carefully considered opinion in In Re Jones, 337 F.Supp. 620 (D.Minn.), appeal denied, Misc. No. 808 (8th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1040, 92 S.Ct. 719, 30 L.Ed.2d 732 (1972).