Nebraska Dept. of Revenue v. Loewenstein, 513 U.S. 123, 13 (1994)

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Cite as: 513 U. S. 123 (1994)

Opinion of the Court

allow the Seller-Borrower to realize the full amount of the federal exemption. This would allegedly frustrate Congress' purpose in granting the exemption. According to respondent, after the Seller-Borrower has subtracted from its taxable income any "interest or dividends received by [it as] the owner of obligations of the United States," pursuant to subsection (a) of Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2716(1) (Supp. 1994), it will then be forced to add back "any interest on indebtedness incurred to carry the [federal] obligations," pursuant to subsection (e)(i) of § 77-2716(1). Respondent conjectures that the interest paid by the Seller-Borrower to the Trusts in the course of repos may constitute just such interest. Respondent therefore hypothesizes that if the Seller-Borrower receives, for example, $100 in interest as the holder of federal securities and pays out $90 to the Trusts in the course of repos involving those securities, Nebraska might give the Seller-Borrower an income tax exemption worth only $10 ($100 minus $90), rather than the $100 exemption that Congress arguably intended.

There is a short answer to respondent's multilayered hypothesis: this case does not involve the construction or validity of Nebraska's add-back rule as applied in the repo context. The Nebraska Supreme Court did not cite § 77- 2716(1)(e)(i) in its opinion, and we did not grant certiorari to consider that provision.

IV

Finally, respondent argues that Nebraska's taxation of income from repos involving federal securities violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. First, respondent contends that Nebraska discriminates against federal obligations because it does not tax income from repos involving Nebraska's own state and local obligations. Although Nebraska Revenue Ruling 22-85-1 concerns repos involving "federal government obligations" and does not mention their Nebraska counterparts, respondent has pointed to no statute, revenue ruling, or other manifestation of Nebraska pol-

135

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