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This Court entered decisions based upon those settlements on
December 22, 1988. The settlement provided that the taxpayers in
the Miller cases were liable for the addition to tax under
section 6659 for valuation overstatement, but not for the
additions to tax under the provisions of section 6661 and section
6653(a). The increased interest under section 6621(c), premised
solely upon Miller's interest in the recyclers for the taxable
years at issue, was not applicable because Miller made payments
prior to December 31, 1984, so no interest accrued after that
time. Respondent did not notify petitioners or any other
taxpayers of the disposition of the Miller cases. Estate of
Satin v. Commissioner, supra; Fisher v. Commissioner, supra.
Petitioners argue that they are similarly situated to
Miller, the taxpayer in the Miller cases, and that pursuant to
the principle of "equality" they are therefore entitled to the
same settlement agreement executed by respondent and Miller in
those cases. In effect, petitioners seek to resurrect the
piggyback agreement offer and/or the settlement offer they
previously failed to accept.
Petitioners contend that under the principle of equality,
the Commissioner has a duty of consistency toward similarly
situated taxpayers and cannot tax one and not tax another without
some rational basis for the difference. United States v. Kaiser,
363 U.S. 299, 308 (1960) (Frankfurter, J., concurring); see Baker
v. United States, 748 F.2d 1465 (11th Cir. 1984); Farmers' &
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