Hugo Black

“ In my view, liability for federal taxes should be determined by uniform principles of federal law, in the absence of the plainest congressional mandate to the contrary. Where as here Congress has provided no standards which define the liability of a transferee for the taxes of his transferor the federal courts themselves should fashion a uniform body of controlling rules which fairly implement the collection of government revenues. ”

“ It can hardly be denied that uniformity in the imposition and collection of federal taxes has always been regarded as extremely desirable in this country. Indeed those who framed the Constitution deemed it so important that they expressly required that 'all Duties, Imposts and Excises (levied by Congress) shall be uniform throughout the United States.' Art. ”

“ I would hold, as a matter of federal law, that where a transferee receives property from a taxpayer who is left with insufficient assets to pay his federal taxes the transferee is liable for those taxes to the extent he has not given fair consideration for the property received. This has been the rule applied by those courts which have heretofore determined transferee liability on the basis of federal law. ”