Cite as: 520 U. S. 93 (1997)
O'Connor, J., concurring in judgment
at 325-326 (adopting this argument). Under this reading, there could be no such thing as a trust that qualified for the marital deduction but imposed a material limitation on the right to income because any trust failing the "substantial beneficial enjoyment" test would not qualify for the deduction at all. Ante, at 103; post, at 132. These are potent criticisms. But no matter how poorly drafted or ill conceived the Revenue Ruling might be, the fact remains that the Commissioner issued it and its plain language is hard to ignore. In the end, the conclusion one draws regarding how the marital and charitable trusts would be treated if they were inter vivos gifts depends on whether one takes the Commissioner at her word: If one does, the gift tax provisions, Revenue Ruling 69-56 in particular, favor respondent's position; if one does not, one is left with no guidance at all. Neither result is wholly satisfying.
Fortunately, § 20.2056(b)-4(a) further directs the reader to consider a second method of determining the amount of the marital deduction:
"In determining the value of the interest in property passing to the spouse account must be taken of the effect of any material limitations upon her right to income from the property."
From this we ask whether the executor's right to allocate administrative expenses to the postmortem income of the marital bequest is a material limitation upon the spouse's "right to income from the property," such that "account must be taken of the effect." Because the executor's power is undeniably a "limitation" on the spouse's right to income, the case hinges on whether that limitation is "material." Accord, post, at 128 (Scalia, J., dissenting) ("The beginning of analysis . . . is to determine what, in the context of § 20.2056(b)-4(a), the word 'material' means").
We can quibble over which definition of "material"—"substantial" or "relevant"—precedes the other in the dictionary,
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