238
Opinion of the Court
from Mr. Ordway's transfer during his lifetime, creating an irrevocable inter vivos trust.15
2
Even assuming the soundness of one or both of these arguments that the Regulation is inapposite, however, the disclaimer would not escape federal gift taxation by reference to state law rules giving effect to the disclaimer as causing a transfer to the beneficiary next in line. Any such reasoning would run counter to our holding in Jewett. In rejecting the argument that the 1958 version of the Regulation was being applied retroactively to the taxpayer's disadvantage in that case, the Jewett Court repudiated the "assumption that [the taxpayer] had a 'right' to renounce the interest without tax consequences that was 'taken away' by the 1958 Regulation. [The taxpayer] never had such a right." Jewett, 455 U. S., at 317. Only then did the Jewett Court go on to determine that the disclaimer at issue did not fall within the exemption from the gift tax provided by the Regulation, and was consequently taxable. Id., at 312-316. The Court followed the general and longstanding rule in federal tax cases that although state law creates legal interests and rights in property, federal law determines whether and to what extent those interests will be taxed. See, e. g., Burnet v. Harmel, 287 U. S. 103, 110 (1932); Morgan v. Commissioner, 309 U. S. 78, 80-81 (1940); United States v. Mitchell, 403 U. S. 190, 197 (1971). The Court put it this way in United States v. Pelzer, 312 U. S. 399, 402-403 (1941):
"[T]he revenue laws are to be construed in the light of their general purpose to establish a nationwide scheme of taxation uniform in its application. Hence their pro-15 In direct contrast, the disclaimed interest in Jewett was created by a testamentary trust, and the disclaimer therefore involved "property transferred from a decedent . . . by the decedent's will . . . ." Treas. Reg. § 25.2511-1(c)(2), 26 CFR § 25.2511-1(c)(2) (1993). See Jewett v. Commissioner, 455 U. S. 305, 306 (1982).
Page: Index Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007