- 11 - wisdom of the Congress in promulgating such a requirement, or to rewrite section 83(h) in a way that is more employer friendly by substituting the word "includable" for the word "included". As the Court has noted many times before in similar settings, we apply section 83 according to its terms, although such an application could result in an inequity in a particular case. See Alves v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. at 878, and the cases cited therein, for prior cases in which the Court has applied section 83 literally, notwithstanding the inequities that could occur from such an application. Although the Congress has given the Commissioner broad authority under section 7805(a) to prescribe rules and regulations to implement provisions, including provisions such as the one at hand which could otherwise be difficult to meet in practice, the duty and province of this and other courts are to interpret the statute as written. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly instructed the lower courts for almost 200 years, "where * * * the statute's language is plain, 'the sole function of the courts is to enforce it according to its terms.'" United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241 (1989) (quoting Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470, 485 (1917)); see also United States v. Goldenberg, 168 U.S. 95, 102-103 (1897); Oneale v. Thornton, 10 U.S. (6 Cranch) 53, 68 (1810). "[C]ourts must presume that a legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there." Connecticut Natl. Bank v. Germain, supra at 253-254.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011