Cite as: 512 U. S. 26 (1994)
O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment
III
In focusing exclusively on the taxpayer's notice and reliance, the Court of Appeals held the congressional enactment to an unduly strict standard. Because we conclude that retroactive application of the 1987 amendment to § 2057 is rationally related to a legitimate legislative purpose, we conclude that the amendment as applied to Carlton's 1986 transactions is consistent with the Due Process Clause.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.
It is so ordered.
Justice O'Connor, concurring in the judgment.
The unamended 26 U. S. C. § 2057, which allowed taxpayers to reduce the taxable estate by buying securities and reselling them to employee stock ownership plans (ESOP's), made it possible to avoid estate taxes by structuring transactions in a certain way. But the tax laws contain many such provisions. See, e. g., 26 U. S. C. § 2055 (allowing deductions from taxable estate for transfers to the government, charities, and religious organizations). And § 2057 was only the latest in a series of congressional efforts to promote ESOP's by providing tax incentives. See, e. g., 26 U. S. C. § 133 (partial income tax exclusion for interest paid to banks on ESOP loans); 26 U. S. C. § 1042 (allowing certain taxpayers to defer capital gains taxes on sale of securities to ESOP's).
Thus, although respondent Carlton may have made a "purely tax-motivated stock transfe[r]," ante, at 32, I do not understand the Court to express any normative disapproval of this course of action. As executor of Willametta Day's estate, it was entirely appropriate for Carlton to seek to reduce the estate taxes. And like all taxpayers, Carlton was entitled to structure the estate's affairs to comply with the tax laws while minimizing tax liability. As Learned Hand observed with characteristic acerbity:
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