- 163 - this aspect of petitioner's contentions because it is not at issue. Second, petitioner contends that there was an "agreement" between himself or CTC and Diesel Power to split commissions in various percentages. This is the primary theory by means of which petitioner attempts to justify attributing much of the income in question on the CTC receipts journal to Diesel Power. We note that there were a significant number of transfers of commissions between Diesel Power and CTC during the years at issue, which tends to support petitioner's argument that there was some kind of unwritten understanding between Diesel Power and CTC concerning the splitting of commissions. However, this "agreement", even if it did exist, is irrelevant to the issue before us. A voluntary agreement to relinquish the right to receive income is insufficient. In Lucas v. Earl, 281 U.S. 111 (1930), the taxpayer entered into a contract with his wife whereby she was entitled to one-half of his income. The Supreme Court held that under assignment of income principles the entire amount was taxable to the taxpayer because he could not assign away income that he earned. Id. at 115. Hence, if petitioner earned the commissions involved herein, he could not assign them to Diesel Power. Accordingly, the commission split understanding was irrelevant. We also note in connection with this alleged splitting of commissions that there were numerous paymentsPage: Previous 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 Next
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