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apart. The $260.13 value determined in the notices was only 17
percent greater than the $221.75 value claimed in the returns.
Second, this litigation has not helped the parties settle
and compromise their differences; to the contrary, it has
driven the parties further apart. The overall value of $192.20
per share set forth in the revised report of petitioners’ expert
Donna J. Walker (Ms. Walker) is lower than the value claimed in
the gift tax returns; the overall value of $273.99 per share set
forth in the report of respondent’s expert Gary L. Schroeder
(Mr. Schroeder) is higher than the value determined in the
statutory notices, although respondent has not asserted an
increased deficiency.7
In light of these observations, what the Court had to say in
Buffalo Tool & Die Manufacturing Co. v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 441
(1980), concerning the “pure factual issue” of valuation, is
particularly germane to the cases at hand:
As the Court repeatedly admonished counsel at trial,
the issue is more properly suited for the give and take
of the settlement process than adjudication. The
existing record reeks of stubbornness rather than
flexibility on the part of both parties, based upon "an
overzealous effort * * * to infuse a talismanic
precision" into their respective views as to valuation.
7 Notwithstanding their differing conclusions about value,
the parties’ experts agree on many important matters concerning
the proper measure of Demco’s historical financial performance,
the methods to be used to appraise value based on that
performance, and the availability and magnitude of lack of
marketability and nonvoting stock discounts. See infra p. 38.
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