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spouse. Respondent’s collection rights are not at issue in this
case. This leads to my next point.
B. Legal or Statutory Voids? “General” State Property
Laws Define the Source of the Payments
The majority opines that if California community property
laws are disregarded to determine the amount of petitioner’s
refund, the Court will be left “with no law or resource to define
the [source of] ownership of the payments made” on the tax
liabilities for the years in issue. Majority op. pp. 15, 17, 19.
If the Court disregarded community property laws when determining
the amount of section 6015(g) refunds, the Court would not be
left in a void without any guidance any more than State courts in
community property States are in a void when dealing with
nonmarried persons. The Court could apply the “general” property
laws of California (i.e., laws regarding holding property as
joint tenants, tenants in common, etc.) to determine the source
(i.e., ownership) of the payments. As I stated supra, the
parties could present evidence on and brief this point.
C. Potential for Abuse
The majority concludes that if community property laws were
disregarded for purposes of section 6015(g), “married taxpayers
in community property States could structure future payments so
that [the economic source of] ownership is attributable to the
spouse requesting relief under section 6015, while continuing a
jointly financed lifestyle.” Majority op. p. 18.
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