Cite as: 520 U. S. 93 (1997)
Scalia, J., dissenting
tration expenses. As I discuss below, infra, at 134-135, the estate tax provisions provide for a deduction from the gross estate for administration expenses actually incurred. See 26 U. S. C. § 2053(a)(2) and 26 CFR § 20.2053-3(a) (1996). Were expected administration expenses taken into account in valuing the assets of the gross estate, as the plurality incorrectly suggests, then the estate tax deduction for actual administration expenses would in effect be a second deduction for the same charge.
Respondent's strongest argument is based on Rev. Rul. 69-56, 1969-1 Cum. Bull. 224, which held that inclusion in a marital trust of the power to charge administration expenses to either income or principal does not run afoul of that provision of the regulations which requires, in order for a life-estate trust to qualify for the gift and estate tax marital deductions, that the settlor intend the spouse to enjoy "substantially that degree of beneficial enjoyment of the trust property during her life which the principles of the law of trust accord to a person who is unqualifiedly designated as the life beneficiary of a trust." 26 CFR §§ 2523(e)-1(f)(1), 2056(b)-5(f)(1) (1996). Although the Revenue Ruling was an interpretation of qualification regulations, it also purported to "h[o]ld" that inclusion of the "power" to allocate expenses between income and principal "does not result in the disallowance or diminution of the marital deduction," Rev. Rul. 69-56, 1969-1 Cum. Bull. 224, 225 (emphasis added). I agree with the Commissioner that this Revenue Ruling is inapposite because it deals with the effect of the mere existence of the power to allocate expenses against income; it speaks not at all to the question of how the actual exercise of that power will affect the valuation of the estate tax marital deduction. If the Ruling is construed to mean that exercise of the power does not reduce the marital deduction, then actually using principal to pay the expenses should not reduce the marital deduction, a result which everyone agrees is incorrect, see, e. g., ante, at 104 (plurality opinion);
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