A New Exception?
The conclusion that statutory cancellation of a tax debt does not
create COD income even where the tax benefit rule would apply
rests ultimately on the common sense principle that it would be
self-defeating. This principle has potentially wide application. A
great variety of non-tax debts may by cancelled or rendered unenforceable
by debtor or consumer protection statutes and under
common law as well. If all such debt cancellation is taxable, the
intended relief would be undercut to the extent of the tax imposed.
The problem implicates the entire panoply of state and federal
debtor protection law.2
" 3 Most such legislation is designed either to
prevent or redress debtors' losses due to creditors' overreaching,