- 16 - however, disregards “rental” as a modifier of “allowance” and thereby renders superfluous a portion of the statute. While the majority correctly emphasizes that section 107(2) is applicable to a rental allowance used for payment either of rent or of other expenses and purchases involved in providing a home, the majority fails to address the requirement that the funds so used must, as a threshold matter, qualify as the equivalent of a rental allowance. The statute does not simply say that an allowance, or even a housing allowance or a residence allowance, used to provide a home may be excluded. Rather, the law states that gross income does not include a rental allowance so used. The majority’s interpretation effectively writes this term out of section 107(2). I am convinced that the choice and use of “rental” as a modifier indicates that Congress envisioned an exclusion with a correlation to rental value. I further believe that the title of section 107, “RENTAL VALUE OF PARSONAGES”, offers additional support for this conclusion. I do not dispute that, as the majority observes, a section heading cannot limit the plain meaning of the text, but here the title serves to reiterate the importance and purpose of a word expressly included in the provision. I also feel that the reference in the text of section 107(2) to the rental allowance as “part” of the minister’s compensation is instructive. No one would seriously contend that the phrasePage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next
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