Fabreeka Products Co. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

These three cases illustrate that there is nothing more conducive to disagreement than the matter of interpreting a statute whose apparent meaning would produce in the particular instance a result distasteful to the court. The common question is how far a court should go in analyzing a transaction or series of transactions literally within a statute, in the light of a finding that a taxpayers sole motivation was tax-avoidance, and interpreting the statute to deny a claimed deduction. The Fabreeka Products Co. and Sherman cases led to five different approaches in the Tax Court; the Friedman case to six. Friedman was based principally upon the courts prior divided decision in Maysteel Products, Inc., 1960, 33 T.C. 1021, which has since been reversed by a divided court in Maysteel Products, Inc. v. Commissioner, 7 Cir., 1961, 287 F.2d 429. A majority of the Tax Court has decided against the taxpayers and they seek review.