May 06, 2007  Politicizing the Internal Revenue Code  by PG  I
was all set to be annoyed about my Corporate Tax textbook and
the Examples & Explanations both referring to the "redemption of
stock to pay Death Taxes," until I stopped and looked at Section
303's title: "Distributions in redemption of stock to pay death
taxes."  Oh. Don't blame the professors, blame the politicians.
And right, first read the Code, McFly.  Notwithstanding the
common conservative equating of "estate tax" with "death tax,"
there is much more covered by 303 than just the estate tax;
"inheritance, legacy, and succession taxes," and "funeral and
administrative expenses allowable as deductions to the estate"
also get counted to up the limit of how much of the
corporation's payment for the deceased's redeemed shares gets
sale/ exchange treatment.  I'd have to spend a lot more time
studying it than I have time remaining until tomorrow morning's
exam before I could say for certain, but the provision strikes
me as an odd one. Prof. Block s