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dismiss for failure to state a claim. See Scherping v.
Commissioner, 747 F.2d 478 (8th Cir. 1984); see also Nieman v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1993-533; Solomon v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 1993-509, affd. without published opinion 42 F.3d 1391 (7th
Cir. 1994).
We turn now, on our own motion, to the award of a penalty
against petitioners under section 6673(a).
As relevant herein, section 6673(a)(1) authorizes the Tax
Court to require a taxpayer to pay to the United States a penalty
not in excess of $25,000 whenever it appears that proceedings
have been instituted or maintained by the taxpayer primarily for
delay or that the taxpayer's position in such proceeding is
frivolous or groundless.
The record in this case convinces us that petitioners were
not interested in disputing the merits of either the deficiency
in income tax or the penalty determined by respondent in the
notice of deficiency. Rather, the record demonstrates that
petitioners regard this case as a vehicle to protest the tax laws
of this country and espouse their own misguided views.
A petition to the Tax Court is frivolous "if it is contrary
to established law and unsupported by a reasoned, colorable
argument for change in the law." Coleman v. Commissioner, 791
F.2d 68, 71 (7th Cir. 1986). Petitioners' position, as set forth
in the petition, consists solely of tax protester rhetoric and
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