Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc. - Page 7




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          transactions and identifiable events that establish worthlessness           
          in 1994, and that petitioner did not sustain the loss until its             
          interim permits were replaced by new general permits during 1995.           
          We disagree.                                                                
               In A.J. Indus., Inc. v. United States, 503 F.2d 660, 670               
          (9th Cir. 1974), the court concluded that "the subjective                   
          judgment of the taxpayer * * * as to whether the business assets            
          [of the taxpayer] will in the future have value is entitled to              
          great weight and a court is not justified in substituting its               
          business judgment for a reasonable, well-founded judgment of the            
          taxpayer."                                                                  
               On August 23, 1994, Congress enacted the FAAAA.  The House             
          conference report that accompanied the legislation indicates that           
          Federal preemption of State authority to regulate the price,                
          route, or service for intrastate transportation would destroy the           
          value of the pre-1995 operating authorities.  See H. Conf. Rept.            
          103-677 at 216 (1994) ("The conferees recognize that * * *                  
          [preemption] will eliminate the asset value of the operating                
          authority of those affected motor carriers.").  We have no doubt            
          that when Congress enacted the FAAAA in August 1994 the value of            
          petitioner's operating authorities plummeted.                               
               Petitioner reported to third parties that the operating                
          authorities were worthless during 1994.  The balance sheet of               
          petitioner's financial statements compiled as of July 31, 1994,             





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