From the Wool-sack

• Publication year: 2001
• Pages: 61

30 Colo.Law. 61 Colorado Lawyer 2001.

2001, August, Pg. 61. From The Wool-Sack

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61

Vol. 30, No. 8, Pg. 61

The Colorado Lawyer
August 2001
Vol. 30, No. 8 [Page 61]

Departments
From The Wool-Sack
From The Wool-Sack
by Christopher R Brauchli

"Alright," said the [Chesire] Cat;
and this time it vanished quite slowly,
beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin,
which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Tax reform time is always a time for merriment. Congress approaches its task with such whimsy that it brings smiles to even the most cynical

Those of advanced years and long memories recall with fondness the Tax Reform Act of 1976 ("Tax Reform Act"), a piece of legislation enacted in the year that marked the 200th anniversary of the founding of our country if not the introduction of the income tax. In that year Congress undertook to reform the tax structure of this country in a tome that took some 1,600 pages. In addition to the dry parts, it included special provisions for orphans and for the descendants of someone called La Vere Redfield (unrelated to any orphans).

Congress's concern for orphans manifested itself in the introduction of something called the "Orphan's Exclusion." Its importance can be seen by examining the Statistical Abstract of the United States of 1995. At page 310, in a listing called "Orphans by Type," the abstract discloses that there were 81,666 persons, or one percent of the population of the United States, who were "full orphans." A full orphan was someone under age 21, who had lost both parents. Orphans among that small group whose parents had the foresight to acquire considerable wealth were the orphans to whom Congress directed its attention. The "Orphan's Exclusion" provided that a share of the estate received by an orphan of wealthy parents was entitled to be excluded from the parent's estate whose death converted the child into an orphan. The amount of the exclusion was calculated by subtracting the orphan's age from 21, and multiplying the result by $5,000. This was a bonanza for the newly created orphan and did a lot to relieve the sorrow the orphan might otherwise have felt at attaining the status of full orphan.

In that same Tax Reform Act, Congress saw fit to bestow a very special benefit on the family of La Vere Redfield. La Vere...