- 18 -
By virtue of subparagraph (2)(A) of section 72(t), the 10-
percent additional tax does not apply to certain distributions.
Specifically, petitioners rely on clause (2)(A)(v), which
provides that the 10-percent additional tax does not apply to
distributions "made to an employee after separation from service
after attainment of age 55". (Emphasis added.) However, this
clause does not apply in the present case because the Transfer
Refund was paid to petitioner well before, and not after, he
separated from service.16
Even though the result we reach here may seem harsh to
petitioners, we may not ignore the plain language of the statute
and, in effect, rewrite it in order to achieve what might be
viewed by them as the more equitable result. See Hildebrand v.
Commissioner, 683 F.2d 57, 58 (3d Cir. 1982), affg. T.C. Memo.
1980-532; Zadan v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1993-85. After all,
the power to legislate is exclusively the power of Congress and
not of this Court or any other. See Iselin v. United States, 270
U.S. 245, 250 (1926).
In view of the foregoing, we sustain respondent's
determination that petitioners are liable for the 10-percent
16 We also observe that the Transfer Refund was paid to
petitioner "on account of" his election to transfer from the
Retirement System to the Pension System and not "on account of"
his separation from the service. See Hylton v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1995-27 (addressing the maxim "causa causae est causa
causati"); see also Adler v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1995-148,
on appeal (4th Cir. 1995); Dorsey v. Commissioner, 1995-97; Brown
v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1995-93.
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