Helvering v. Gordon’s Empirical Analysis
87 F.2d 663 · 1937
Citation profile
29 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 60 later decisions — most recently September 1995 · most notably Sachs v. Commissioner (1960), Federbush v. Commissioner (1960)
29 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 26 U.S.C. § 115 · 26 U.S.C. § 22
Relies on Lucas v. Earl · Corliss v. Bowers · Burnet v. Sanford & Brooks Co. · United States v. Phellis · Ahles Realty Corp. v. Commissioner
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 60 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is the essence of any system of taxation that it should produce revenue ascertainable, and payable to the government, at regular intervals. Only by such a system is it practicable to produce a regular flow of income and apply methods of accounting, assessment, and collection capable of practical operation.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A taxpayer should not have the right to select the year in which to reduce income to possession. It is now well settled that income which is subject to a taxpayer’s unfettered command and which he is free to enjoy at his own option is taxed to him as his income whether he sees fit to enjoy it or not. The doctrine of constructive receipt is to be applied where a cash basis taxpayer is presently entitled to money, which money is made available to him, and his failure to receive it in cash is due entirely to- his own volition.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.