living expenses. This replaced the prior practice of bankruptcy courts having to make case-by-case determinations of a debtor's expenses to calculate available income. The statute provides, in relevant part: The debtor's monthly expenses shall be the debtor's applicable monthly expense amounts specified under the National Standards and Local Standards, and the debtor's actual monthly expenses for the categories specified as Other Necessary Expenses issued by the Internal Revenue Service for the area in which the debtor resides." The National Standards and Local Standards referred to by the statute are tables that the Internal Revenue Service prepares for determining taxpayers' ability to pay overdue taxes. These tables list standardized expense amounts for basic necessities. As incorporated in Chapter 13, the tables, therefore, determine the categories of expenses for which debtors can receive income allowances and the dollar amounts of those allowances. The IRS also prepares the Collection Financial Standards, which are supplemental guidelines that describe how to use the National and Local Standards tables and what the amounts listed in them mean. Included in the National Standards at the time the case was brought were allowances for transportation costs, divided for car owners into tables labeled "Ownership Costs" and "Operating Costs." The Collection Financial Standards explained that "Ownership Costs" represented "nationwide figures for monthly loan or lease payments," "base[d] . . . on the five-year average of new and used car financing data compiled by the Federal Reserve Board." The Collection Financial Standards further instructed that, in the tax-collection context, "[i]f a taxpayer has no car payment, . . . only the operating costs portion of the transportation standard is used to come up with the allowable transportation expense." Lower court proceedings Jason M. Ransom filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in July 2006 and itemized over $82,500 in unsecured credit card debt, including nearly $33,000 held by MBNA (later FIA). In his proposed five-year repayment plan, Ransom claimed the "Ownership Costs" allowance, fixed at the time at $471 per month for one car, for his 2004 Toyota Camry which he owned outright. Over the course of the plan, this allowance would amount to a total of about $28,000 withheld from creditors. MBNA objected on the basis that Ransom did not make loan or lease payments on the car and thus was not entitled to that cost allowance. The bankruptcy court agreed and denied confirmation of the plan. Ransom appealed to the