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income, unless “some provision of the Code or of law [excepts],
[exempts], or [excludes] [it] from gross income.” Williams v.
Commissioner, 35 T.C. 685, 687 (1961). Furthermore, “exemptions
from taxation are not to be implied; they must be unambiguously
proved.” United States v. Wells Fargo Bank, 485 U.S. 351, 354
(1988). It is against this backdrop that petitioner begins his
Herculean journey to establish that the $10,170 received as
payment for his unused vacation and sick leave is nontaxable.
Petitioner argues that section 457 applies to exclude his
compensation for unused vacation and sick leave from gross
income.5 Congress enacted section 457 by the Revenue Act of
1978, Pub. L. 95-600, sec. 131(c), 92 Stat. 2782. Section 457(a)
provides that, if a taxpayer participates “in an eligible
deferred compensation plan, any amount of compensation deferred
* * * shall be includible in gross income only for the taxable
year in which such compensation or other income is paid or
otherwise made available” to the taxpayer. An eligible deferred
compensation plan is a plan that meets the requirements of
section 457(b) and is “maintained by an eligible employer”. Sec.
5 Petitioner bases his argument on a newspaper article he
read. Petitioner was unable to identify the source and
publication date of the article. We have repeatedly held that
the authoritative sources of Federal tax law are the statutes,
regulations, and judicial caselaw. Zimmerman v. Commissioner, 71
T.C. 367, 371 (1978), affd. without published opinion 614 F.2d
1294 (2d Cir. 1979); Green v. Commissioner, 59 T.C. 456, 458
(1972).
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