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inventory. Accordingly, generalized concepts such as respondent
would have us apply must give way in this instance to specific
rules.
Rev. Rul. 85-8, 1985-1 C.B. 59, as noted above, deals with
charitable contributions of dated products. Neither party
discusses, or even cites, this ruling, but for completeness we deem
it necessary to consider it. Revenue Rulings are not accorded the
force of precedent in the Tax Court. Rather, they represent the
position of the Commissioner on a given issue, and we deal with Rev.
Rul. 85-8 in that light. Estate of Lang v. Commissioner, 64 T.C.
404, 406-407 (1975), affd. in part and revd. in part on other
grounds 613 F.2d 770 (9th Cir. 1980).
Rev. Rul. 85-8 holds that when a corporation donates products in
inventory to a charitable organization shortly before the products'
expiration date, the amount allowable as a charitable contribution
deduction is equal to the taxpayer's basis in the property plus one-
half of the unrealized appreciation, not to exceed twice the
taxpayer's basis in the property. The ruling, however, presupposes
the fact that we are charged with determining, namely, the amount of
"unrealized appreciation." We quote the "facts" of the ruling as
follows:
Corporation X, which is not an S corporation as defined
in section 1361(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code, is a
pharmaceutical manufacturer. X manufactures products that
are subject to the requirement that an "expiration date" be
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