Scope
Section 61 contains a rare example of intensive redundancy, or emphatic redundancy, in the Internal Revenue Code. That is, the parenthetical phrase "but not limited to" redundantly intensifies the significance of the phrase "all income" and the phrase "from whatever source derived." Under ordinary rules of statutory construction the list of fifteen specific items of income would not, even in the absence of the parenthetical intensive, be considered a complete list of all items of income included in "gross income" under the definition. The use of the word "including" also highlights this expansive definition of "gross income." Under Internal Revenue Code § 7701(c), "he terms 'includes' and 'including' when used in a definition contained in this title shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined." Under the 1959 U.S. Supreme Court case of Sims v. United States, the terms "includes" and "including" in section 7701 are terms of expansion, not terms of exclusivity.
The phrase "except as otherwise provided in this subtitle" generally refers to the items of income that are excluded from "gross income" under Internal Revenue Code sections 101 through 140. For example, § 101 excludes certain life insurance proceeds received by reason of the death of the insured. § 102 excludes certain gifts and inheritances. § 103 excludes interest income on state and municipal bonds. § 104 excludes certain amounts received on account of injuries or sickness.
Read more about this topic: Internal Revenue Code Section 61
Famous quotes containing the word scope:
“For it is not the bare words but the scope of the writer that gives the true light, by which any writing is to be interpreted; and they that insist upon single texts, without considering the main design, can derive no thing from them clearly.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“A country survives its legislation. That truth should not comfort the conservative nor depress the radical. For it means that public policy can enlarge its scope and increase its audacity, can try big experiments without trembling too much over the result. This nation could enter upon the most radical experiments and could afford to fail in them.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“As the creative adult needs to toy with ideas, the child, to form his ideas, needs toys—and plenty of leisure and scope to play with them as he likes, and not just the way adults think proper. This is why he must be given this freedom for his play to be successful and truly serve him well.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)