Cite as: 530 U. S. 15 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
on taxing authorities,3 others put it on the trustee,4 and still others cannot be fathomed.5 This state of things is the end of the argument, for without the weight of solid authority on the trustee's side, we cannot treat the Code as predicated on an alteration of the substantive law of obligations once a taxpayer enters bankruptcy. Cf. United Sav. Assn. of Tex. v. Timbers of Inwood Forest Associates, Ltd., 484 U. S. 365, 381-382 (1988) ("The at best divided [pre-Code] authority . . . removes all cause for wonder that the alleged departure from it should not have been commented upon in the legislative history").
The trustee makes a different appeal to Code silence in pointing to language in Vanston Bondholders Protective Comm. v. Green, 329 U. S. 156 (1946), suggesting that "allowance" of claims is a federal matter. But "allowance" referred to the ordering of valid claims when that case was decided, see id., at 162-163, and Vanston, in fact, concerned
3 See, e. g., United States v. Sampsell, 224 F. 2d 721, 722-723 (CA9 1955); In re Avien, Inc., 390 F. Supp. 1335, 1341-1342 (EDNY 1975), aff'd, 532 F. 2d 273 (CA2 1976); In re Gorgeous Blouse Co., 106 F. Supp. 465 (SDNY 1952); see also In re Highway Constr. Co., 105 F. 2d 863, 866 (CA6 1939) (apparently accepting lower court's placement of burden of proof on tax authority).
4 See, e. g., In re Uneco, Inc., 532 F. 2d 1204, 1207 (CA8 1976); Paschal v. Blieden, 127 F. 2d 398, 401-402 (CA8 1942); In re Lang Body Co., 92 F. 2d 338, 341 (CA6 1937), cert. denied sub nom. Hipp v. Boyle, 303 U. S. 637 (1938); United States v. Knox-Powell-Stockton Co., 83 F. 2d 423, 425 (CA9), cert. denied, 299 U. S. 573 (1936). Some of these cases, such as Paschal and Lang Body Co., appear to confuse the burden of production (which ceases to be relevant upon presentation of a trustee's case) with the burden of persuasion, under tax statutes that shift the entire burden of proof to the taxpayer. Whatever we make of their reasoning, these cases do not follow the rule whose pedigree petitioner wishes to establish.
5 See, e. g., Fiori v. Rothensies, 99 F. 2d 922 (CA3 1938) (per curiam) (discussing prima facie value of tax authority's claim, but failing to discuss burden of proof); Dickinson v. Riley, 86 F. 2d 385 (CA8 1936) (resolving claim without reference to burden of proof); In re Clayton Magazines, Inc., 77 F. 2d 852 (CA2 1935) (same).
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