Cite as: 532 U. S. 822 (2001)
Stevens, J., dissenting
Code and the corresponding regulations are ambiguous, this Court should defer to the Government's interpretation. See post this page (opinion of Stevens, J.). At a bare minimum, in cases such as this one, in which the complex statutory and regulatory scheme lends itself to any number of interpretations, we should be inclined to rely on the traditional canon that construes revenue-raising laws against their drafter. See Leavell v. Blades, 237 Mo. 695, 700-701, 141 S. W. 893, 894 (1911) ("When the tax gatherer puts his finger on the citizen, he must also put his finger on the law permitting it"); United States v. Merriam, 263 U. S. 179, 188 (1923) ("If the words are doubtful, the doubt must be resolved against the Government and in favor of the taxpayer"); Bowers v. New York & Albany Lighterage Co., 273 U. S. 346, 350 (1927) ("The provision is part of a taxing statute; and such laws are to be interpreted liberally in favor of the taxpayers"). Accord, American Net & Twine Co. v. Worthington, 141 U. S. 468, 474 (1891); Benziger v. United States, 192 U. S. 38, 55 (1904).
Justice Stevens, dissenting.
This is a close and difficult case, in which neither the statute nor the regulations offer a definitive answer to the crucial textual question. Absent a clear textual anchor, I would credit the Secretary of the Treasury's concerns about the potential for abuse created by the petitioner's reading of the statutory scheme and affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals on that basis.1
1 Justice Thomas accurately points to a tradition of cases construing "revenue-raising laws" against their drafter. See ante this page (Thomas, J., concurring). However, when the ambiguous provision in question is not one that imposes tax liability but rather one that crafts an exception from a general revenue duty for the benefit of some taxpayers, a countervailing tradition suggests that the ambiguity should be resolved in the government's favor. See, e. g., INDOPCO, Inc. v. Commissioner, 503 U. S. 79, 84 (1992); Interstate Transit Lines v. Commissioner,
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