Lisa H. Green - Page 6




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               Petitioner has not argued, and she has failed to                       
          demonstrate, that she is a member of any suspect classification             
          or that TRHCA section 408 interferes with a fundamental right.              
          Consequently, we must uphold TRHCA section 408 if it bears a                
          rational relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose.  See            
          Regan v. Taxation With Representation, supra at 547.  We have               
          held that it is especially difficult to demonstrate that no                 
          rational basis exists for a classification in a revenue act for             
          which the presumption that an act of Congress is constitutional             
          is particularly strong.  See Black v. Commissioner, 69 T.C. 505,            
          507-508 (1977); Cansino v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2001-134.               
          Moreover, under the rational basis standard, a statute does not             
          violate the equal protection mandate “if any state of facts                 
          rationally justifying * * * [the statute] is demonstrated to or             
          perceived by the courts.”  United States v. Md. Savings-Share               
          Ins. Corp., 400 U.S. 4, 6 (1970).                                           
               One obvious rational basis for Congress’s choice of an                 
          effective date is administrative convenience.  Administrative               
          convenience has been recognized as a sufficient reason for                  
          legislative line drawing.  See, e.g., N.Y. Rapid Transit Corp. v.           
          City of New York, 303 U.S. 573, 580 (1938).  In enacting TRHCA              
          section 408, Congress had to draw a line that would enable the              
          Internal Revenue Service and the courts to ascertain when TRHCA             
          section 408 would apply.  Congress reasonably decided to use                







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