- 36 -- 36 -
materials and that studies have shown that "a 300% increase in
crude oil prices results in only a 30 to 40% increase in the cost
of plastics products." Furthermore, during 1980 and 1981, in
addition to the media coverage of the so-called oil crisis, there
was "extensive continuing press coverage of questionable tax
shelter plans." Zmuda v. Commissioner, 731 F.2d 1417, 1422 (9th
Cir. 1984), affg. 79 T.C. 714 (1982).
Petitioners' reliance on Von Scoyoc v. Commissioner, supra,
is misplaced. In Von Scoyoc, the taxpayer purchased a sailboat
for use in the charter business. This Court held that the
taxpayer did not engage in the charter activity for profit, but
declined to sustain the negligence additions to tax. The
taxpayer had been motivated in part by a Wall Street Journal
article stating that sailboat prices had been appreciating for
several years at the time. This Court noted that members of the
boating industry attributed this to several factors, one of which
was the energy crisis of the early and mid-1970's. In contrast,
the Sentinel EPE recyclers had no documented profit or
appreciation history, and the speculative influence of the so-
called oil crisis was the primary, if not only, factor upon which
petitioners purport to have based their profit hopes. We
consider Von Scoyoc v. Commissioner, supra, inapplicable under
the facts of petitioners' cases herein.
Petitioners' reliance on Krause v. Commissioner, supra, is
misplaced. The facts in Krause v. Commissioner, supra, are
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