High Court Gives S&Ls; a Tax Break:...
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
High Court Gives S&Ls; a Tax Break: The Supreme Court handed a victory to the embattled savings and loan industry, ruling that financial institutions can legally deduct millions of dollars from their federal taxes as losses by swapping mortgage loans of nearly identical value. The court, in a pair of cases from Ohio and Texas, saved the nation’s savings and loans millions of dollars by its interpretation of a 1980 memorandum of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which appeared to legalize the mortgage loan exchanges as a cost-cutting step for financially ailing thrifts.
