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debts, is not exclusive,3 but is concurrent with other courts.4
There may be concern whether, as a matter of comity and
discretion, we should refrain from deciding the discharge issue
and instead remit petitioners to the Bankruptcy Court, which has
expertise and authority to construe and apply its own order of
discharge. Of course, this Court has decided myriad cases in
which, in order to resolve the tax issues, we decided issues of
law, both Federal and State, outside our primary expertise. We
have not hesitated to do so before, and we properly do so in the
case at hand.
It should be noted that if we declined to resolve the
bankruptcy dischargeability issue, we could not force petitioners
to return to the Bankruptcy Court to have that court resolve that
question. What would we do if petitioners should refuse to go to
the Bankruptcy Court and insist that we decide the bankruptcy
3Bankruptcy Courts have exclusive jurisdiction only with
respect to debts enumerated in 11 U.S.C. sec. 523(a)(2), (4),
(6), and (15). See 11 U.S.C. sec. 523(c).
4See, e.g., In re Zitzman, 46 F. Supp. 314, 315 (E.D.N.Y.
1942); In re Crawford, 183 Bankr. 103, 105 (Bankr. W.D. Va.
1995); In re Galbreath, 83 Bankr. 549, 551 (Bankr. S.D. Ill.
1988); Fed. R. Bankr. Proced. 4007 Advisory Committee’s Note
(1983) (“Jurisdiction over this issue on these debts is held
concurrently by the Bankruptcy Court and any appropriate
nonbankruptcy forum.”); 4 Collier on Bankruptcy, par. 523.03, at
523-17 (15th ed. rev. 1996). Jurisdiction to determine
bankruptcy dischargeability issues may be exercised by the
Bankruptcy Court as well as other courts with respect to all
debts enumerated in 11 U.S.C. sec. 523(a), including 11 U.S.C.
sec. 523(a)(1) relating to tax debts, except 11 U.S.C. sec.
523(a)(2), (4), (6), and (15).
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