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in the collection of tax debts that are due and owing if they
have not been discharged in bankruptcy.
Having decided we have jurisdiction, there is only one
question we must address in the lien proceeding at hand in order
to decide whether to sustain or reject in whole or in part the
collection action in respondent’s notice of determination. That
one question is whether petitioners were discharged under 11
U.S.C. section 523(a)(1)(B)(ii) from their unpaid tax liabilities
for the taxable years 1994 and 1995. This Court, not the Bank-
ruptcy Court, should resolve that question in the lien proceeding
at hand, and the Court has properly done so.
A final note: The bankruptcy discharge issue in the case at
hand is a slam dunk for respondent. Petitioners’ argument on the
merits of this issue borders on being frivolous. The majority
opinion properly shows no hesitation in deciding the issue.
Nothing the Court does today will prevent us from revisiting, in
subsequent collection cases in which other bankruptcy discharge
issues are raised, whether, as a matter of comity and discretion,
we should defer to the Bankruptcy Court’s expertise and authority
to construe and apply its own order of discharge.
GERBER, J., agrees with this concurring opinion.
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