- 9 -
Rechtzigel v. Commissioner, 79 T.C. 132 (1982), affd. per curiam
703 F.2d 1063 (8th Cir. 1983); Burns v. Commissioner, 76 T.C. 706
(1981). There is no evidence that petitioner was under criminal
investigation for any of the years in issue.
Petitioner invoked the jurisdiction of this Court but at
trial, did not produce evidence to rebut respondent's position
that petitioner received self-employment income of $11,438 during
1993. Petitioner had the option of presenting evidence other
than her own testimony. A blanket invocation of the Fifth
Amendment privilege is simply not a substitute for relevant
evidence. United States v. Rylander, 460 U.S. 752 (1983);
Petzoldt v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 661, 687-688 (1989). Moreover,
the Fifth Amendment does not preclude adverse inferences against
parties to civil actions when they refuse to testify in response
to probative evidence offered against them. Baxter v.
Palmigiano, 425 U.S. 308 (1976); Meier v. Commissioner, 91 T.C.
273, 290 (1988); Rechtzigel v. Commissioner, supra at 142 n.10.
This Court has observed that
A valid assertion of the privilege against self-
incrimination, however, is not a “substitute for
evidence that would assist in meeting a burden of
production,” for to adopt such a view “would convert
the privilege from the shield against compulsory self-
incrimination which it was intended to be into a sword
whereby a claimant asserting the privilege would be
freed from adducing proof in support of a burden which
would otherwise have been his.” * * * [Petzoldt v.
Commissioner, supra at 684-685 (quoting United States
v. Rylander, supra at 758).]
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