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fraudulent intent, Farber v. Commissioner, 43 T.C. 407, 420-421
(1965), modified 44 T.C. 408 (1965). As in Hudgens v.
Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1985-587, and Paddock v. Commissioner,
T.C. Memo. 1985-586, we regard Mark's continued failure to file
to be an "emotional response" to the chaos caused by years of
illegal drug abuse that prevented him from confronting "his
situation in any constructive way" and not a series of
affirmative acts actuated by an intent to evade paying taxes.
Hudgens v. Commissioner, supra.
The other factors cited by respondent do not support a
finding of clear and convincing proof of fraudulent intent in any
of the tax years in question. The welter of detail that
respondent entered into the record documenting petitioners'
expenditures during the years in question merely indicates a
relatively affluent, if somewhat undisciplined lifestyle,
heedless of the consequences of failing to pay taxes. The record
does not recount a series of affirmative acts demonstrating
fraudulent intent. Spies v. United States, 317 U.S. 492, 499
(1943). The case at hand contrasts sharply with the taxpayer in
Anderson v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1973-155, who told the Court
that he did not file his tax returns or pay his taxes because he
did not wish to lower his family's standard of living. Such
recalcitrant behavior is absent from the record in this case.
Petitioners were merely living their lives without any particular
regard for whether they filed their returns and paid their taxes.
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