- 26 -
But we have done so only reluctantly, and after making
substantial efforts to give effect to all the statutory language;
and we have acknowledged when our efforts failed. See, e.g.,
Adams v. Commissioner, 70 T.C. 373 (1978), 70 T.C. 446 (1978), 72
T.C. 81 (1979), affd. without published opinion 688 F.2d 815 (2d
Cir. 1982).6 In that instance, our continuing respectful
dialogue with the Congress resulted in the enactment of Public
Law 96-596, 94 Stat. 3469, enacted in 1980 (even before Adams was
affirmed), which revised the law to resolve the problems we had
struggled with.
The majority’s holdings in the instant case make part of the
statute meaningless. There is a way to give effect to the entire
6In Adams v. Commissioner, 72 T.C. 81, 92 n.16 (1979), we
stated as follows:
It was not without considerable deliberation and
thought that our decision herein was reached. We can
certainly appreciate Congress’ desire to eliminate the
potential for abuse inherent in dealings with tax-
exempt organizations. Also, we are not unaware of the
difficulty in drafting legislation which will equitably
dispose of a variety of factual settings. Regrettably,
however, when considering all the potentially viable
alternatives available to assist us in implementing the
statute, we were consistently confronted with another
statute or well-established rule of law which prevented
our reaching a satisfactory resolution of the problems
discussed herein.
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