Raymond Albert Moorefield - Page 5

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          received by him in 1988 nontaxable in that year or excuses his              
          failure to file a return and report those proceeds for that year.           
               Section 61(a) states:  “Except as otherwise provided in this           
          subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source                
          derived”.  The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized the                  
          “sweeping scope” of section 61(a) and its statutory predecessors.           
          See Commissioner v. Schleier, 515 U.S. ___, 115 S. Ct. 2159, 2163           
          (1995); Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co., 348 U.S. 426, 429               
          (1955).  In Schleier, the Supreme Court stated:  “We have also              
          emphasized the corollary to section 61(a)’s broad construction,             
          namely the <default rule of statutory interpretation that                   
          exclusions from income must be narrowly construed.’”                        
          Commissioner v. Schleier, 515 U.S. at ___ (quoting United States            
          v. Burke, 504 U.S. 229, 248 (1992) (Souter, J., concurring in               
          judgment)).  Petitioner has not, in this case, identified any               
          specific ground that entitles him to exclude the funds he                   
          received from taxable income.  Petitioner’s position is based               
          primarily on the ongoing litigation and secondarily on the                  
          misplaced argument that the payments he received in 1988 were               
          somehow attributable to an earlier year.                                    
               Whether they were paid as a result of the 1984 ruling of the           
          Superior Court or the 1988 settlement agreement, the proceeds               
          received by petitioner were undoubtedly received by him in 1988             
          pursuant to a “claim of right” against Wright.  Where, as here, a           





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