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Petitioner also argues that the general policy of the
unified gift and estate transfer tax system (enacted as a part of
The Tax Reform Act of 1976, Pub. L. 94-455, sec. 2001, 90 Stat.
1520, 1846) dictates that the restrictions have an effect on the
determination of value for estate tax purposes, and that since
the securities law restrictions were applicable to gifts by the
decedent, they are required to be taken into account in this case
for the sake of consistency. Petitioner's argument is not
convincing.
According to a Joint Committee "Blue Book", Congress
believed that, as a matter of equity, transfers of the same
amount of wealth should be treated substantially the same when
transfers were made both during life and at death, or made only
upon death. Congress believed that it was desirable to reduce
the disparity of treatment between lifetime transfers and
transfers at death through the adoption of a single unified
estate and gift tax rate schedule providing progressive rates
based on cumulative transfers. See Staff of Joint Committee on
Taxation, General Explanation of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 (J.
Comm. Print), 1976-3 C.B. (Vol. 2) 537. Accordingly, the Tax
Reform Act of 1976 provided a rate schedule for estate and gift
taxes which eliminated the preferential rate for lifetime
transfers. The Tax Reform Act of 1976 also provided for a
unified credit against estate and gift taxes. The amount of the
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