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similar positions. “No scheme of taxation, whether the tax is
imposed on property, income, or purchases of goods and services,
has yet been devised which is free of all discriminatory impact.”
San Antonio Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 42
(1973). As with laws granting economic benefits, drawing dis-
tinctions “inevitably requires that some persons who have an
almost equally strong claim to favored treatment be placed on
different sides of the [same] line . . . .” FCC v. Beach Com-
munications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 315-316 (1993).7 Yet courts
have repeatedly held that these distinctions do not violate the
Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Instead they re-
flect Congress’s exercise of its legitimate prerogative to enact
laws with an eye to their practical administration and cost to
the fisc.
Petitioner’s argument is thus defective in its implicit
premise that distinctions drawn in tax legislation be entirely
logical. This is not to say that Congress has unbridled
authority to selectively tax the citizenry, but only that courts
7 It might be possible to review new section 6404(e)’s
constitutionality under precedents involving the granting of
economic benefits, instead of those imposing a tax. But this
would have little impact on the analysis, and none on the result.
Ultimately, both “economic benefit” cases and tax classification
cases are subject to “rational basis” review. See, e.g., N.Y.
Rapid Transit Corp. v. City of New York, 303 U.S. 573, 578
(1938).
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