Hugo Black

“ We must not disregard the illumination of an authoritative tax lexicon in reading tax legislation. The language of the 1942 amendment carries with it tax usage, tax practice, and the gloss of authoritative legislative history. All combine to make the condition under which State law prohibiting distribution of profits comes into play, that which Congress in words of art said was the condition, namely, the existence of 'a deficit in accumlated earnings and profits.' Here there was no deficit in the controlling sense of the term. ”

“ Assume in the above example that the deficit in accumulated earnings and profits is $20,000 for income tax purposes, but the deficit in accumulated earnings and profits on the corporation's books by reason of a prior capitalization of surplus in the course of a nontaxable reorganization amounts to $250,000. In this case, although the State law would probably prohibit payment of any dividends, the credit allowed under the amendment to section 26 (c) is limited to $20,000, which is the deficit in accumulated earnings and profits for income tax purposes. ”

“ And nothing warrants the attribution of a non-technical meaning to so settled a technical term. Nothing, that is, except the suggestion that to give the 1942 amendment this established meaning might not afford the relief that, as a matter of abstract justice, should be afforded. ”