mutter wrote:If the SCOTUS case PH cites did over rule 7701 congress would be forced(?) to change 7701.
What case is that?
For the record, the only Supreme Court case I have seen that specifically addressed the definition of "includes" section 7701 reached a conclusion that is inconsistent with what PH would have you believe.
The issue in that case was whether a state is a “person” that could be served with a notice of levy in order to garnish the wages of a state employee. The statute in question, section 6332, stated that “person” for purposes of a notice of levy “includes an officer or employee of a corporation or a member or employee of a partnership, who as such officer, employee, or member is under a duty to surrender the property or rights to property, or to discharge the obligation.” The Supreme Court held that a state was a “person,” stating:
Supreme Court wrote:“Though the definition of ‘person’ in 6332 does not mention States or any sovereign or political entity or their officers among those it ‘includes’ [footnote omitted], it is equally clear that it does not exclude them. This is made certain by the provisions of 7701(b) of the 1954 Internal Revenue Code that ‘The terms “includes” and “including” when used in a definition contained in this title shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined.’ 26 U.S.C. (Supp. V) 7701(b).”
Sims v. United States, 359 U.S. 108, 112 (1959).
The court went on to hold that “the subject matter, the context, the legislative history, and the executive interpretation, i. e., the legislative environment, of 6332 make it plain that Congress intended to and did include States within the term 'person' as used in 6332.” 359 U.S. at 112.
But the result would be the same even without section 7701(c), because the Supreme Court has stated that:
“In definitive provisions of statutes and other writings, ‘include’ is frequently, if not generally, used as a word of extension or enlargement rather than as one of limitation or enumeration.”
American Surety Co. of New York v. Marotta, 287 U.S. 513 (1933).
There are some cases that pre-date section 7701(c) in which the Supreme Court, addressing very different, non-tax statutes, might have found a different usage of "includes," and Hendrickson is undoubtedly taking quotations out of context from those cases. (Probably Montello Salt, which I explain at in
my FAQ.)