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Opinion of the Court
called Class 12 (which would receive some funds). Appel-lees' App. in No. 94-4034 et al. (CA10), pp. 96-101, 137-141, 197-200. The United States objected, but the Bankruptcy Court affirmed the plan. The Government appealed this order as well, and the District Court affirmed both the denial of excise tax treatment and the subsequent subordination to general unsecured claims. App. to Pet. for Cert. A-11. The Tenth Circuit likewise affirmed. 53 F. 3d 1155 (1995).
We granted certiorari, 516 U. S. 1005 (1995), to resolve a conflict among the Circuits over whether § 4971(a) claims are excise taxes within the meaning of § 507(a)(7)(E), and whether such claims are categorically subject to equitable subordination under § 510(c).3 We affirm on the first question but on the second vacate the judgment and remand.
II
The provisions for priorities among a bankrupt debtor's claimants are found in 11 U. S. C. § 507, subsection (a)(7) of which read, in relevant part, that seventh priority would be accorded to
"allowed unsecured claims of governmental units, only to the extent that such claims are for—
. . . . . "(E) an excise tax on—
"(i) a transaction occurring before the date of the filing of the petition for which a return, if required, is last due, under applicable law or under any extension, after three years before the date of the filing of the petition; or
"(ii) if a return is not required, a transaction occurring during the three years immediately preceding the date of the filing of the petition."
3 Compare In re Mansfield Tire & Rubber Co., 942 F. 2d 1055 (CA6 1991), cert. denied sub nom. Krugliak v. United States, 502 U. S. 1092 (1992), with In re Cassidy, 983 F. 2d 161 (CA10 1992); In re C-T of Va., Inc., 977 F. 2d 137 (CA4 1992).
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