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excess of the part charged off within the taxable year". See
sec. 1.166-3(a)(2)(iii), Income Tax Regs. Courts have recognized
the Commissioner's discretion and will not disturb his
determination unless it is plainly arbitrary and unreasonable.
Sika Chem. Corp. v. Commissioner, 64 T.C. 856, 862-863 (1975),
affd. without published opinion 538 F.2d 320 (3d Cir. 1976);
Bullock v. Commissioner, 26 T.C. 276, 299 (1956), affd. per
curiam 253 F.2d 715 (2d Cir. 1958); Findley v. Commissioner, 25
T.C. 311 (1955), affd. per curiam 236 F.2d 959 (3d Cir. 1956).
Petitioner has not raised the issue of partial worthlessness of
any of the specific debts here at issue, and we will not consider
it. See Mayer Tank Manufacturing Co. v. Commissioner, 126 F.2d
588 (2d Cir. 1942); accord Lehman v. Commissioner, 129 F.2d 288
(2d Cir. 1942).
Petitioner is therefore entitled to claim a bad debt
deduction under section 166(a)(1) only for debts that became
wholly worthless within the taxable year. The Court, however,
has examined the record and is unable to find by a preponderance
of the evidence that any of petitioner's loans became wholly
worthless within any of the years before the Court.
The Aloi Debt
The group of 30 notes from Mr. Aloi to petitioner was the
subject of a lawsuit brought by petitioner to reduce his claims
to judgment. The litigation proceeded through the years at
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