- 15 -
requisite election. Moreover, section 4980A(f)(3) defines
"eligible individual" to mean any individual if, on August 1,
1986, the present value of such individual's interest in
qualified employer plans exceeded $562,500. The present value of
petitioner's accrued benefit in the Retirement System as of
August 1, 1986, did not exceed such amount. Accordingly, section
4980A(f) simply has no application to the present case.
G. Petitioner's Other Arguments
Finally, we have considered petitioner's other arguments and
find they are merely variations on the same theme that we have
already addressed.11
III. Conclusion
To paraphrase the Supreme Court, we are bound by the
language of section 4980A as it is written, and, even if
petitioner's argument might accord with good policy, we are not
at liberty to rewrite such section because we might deem its
effects susceptible of improvement. Commissioner v. Lundy, 516
U.S. 116 S. Ct. 647, 656-657 (Jan. 17, 1996) (citing
Badaracco v. Commissioner, 464 U.S. 386, 398 (1984)).
Accordingly, in order to give effect to our disposition of the
disputed issue, as well as respondent's concession, and to permit
11 On brief, petitioner suggests that she relied on
erroneous advice by either the State of Maryland or the I.R.S. or
both. However, there is no evidence in the record to provide the
factual predicate for such an argument; accordingly, we need not,
and do not, address the argument.
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