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Rehabilitation Activities Fund are nested within a series of
provisions dealing with benefits. There is a canon of
construction, noscitur a sociis (Latin: “it is known by its
associates”), holding that the meaning of an unclear word or
phrase should be determined by the words immediately surrounding
it. Black’s Law Dictionary 1087 (8th ed. 2004); see also, e.g.,
Jarecki v. G.D. Searle & Co., 367 U.S. 303, 307 (1961). While
Congress has failed to tell us whether distributions from the VA
Special Therapeutic and Rehabilitation Activities Fund are to be
considered benefits, the placement of section 1718 in the midst
of so many benefit provisions supports the inference that such
distributions are to be considered benefits. Contextually, the
distributions are benefits.
E. History of 38 U.S.C. Section 5301(a)
The history of a statute may be helpful in resolving
ambiguities therein. E.g., Anderson v. Commissioner, 123 T.C.
219, 233 (2004), affd. 137 Fed. Appx. 373 (1st Cir. 2005).
Section 5301 (2000) of title 38 both limits the
assignability of veterans’ benefits and exempts those benefits
from taxation. While the provision has deep roots,5 its
5 The tax exemption for VA benefits originated as an
amendment to the Bureau of War Risk Insurance Act, which,
beginning in 1917, provided certain benefits for members of the
Armed Forces. See Act of Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 105, sec. 311, 40
Stat. 408. The initial amendment, which provided an exemption
from tax for certain death and disability benefits, was later
(continued...)
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