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wages are income to them and whether they are entitled to a
deduction or credit for the “marriage penalty”.
FINDINGS OF FACT2
Petitioners resided in Oceanside, California, at the time
their petition was filed. Neither petitioner has specialized
knowledge of the law or taxation matters. Both petitioners were
educated through the 12th grade. Petitioners were married in
1990, and from that time forward began filing joint Federal
income tax returns. They noticed that their marital status
resulted in the payment of more Federal income tax, collectively,
than they had experienced when they were single and filed
separately. This paradoxical situation upset petitioners, and
they set out to understand the taxing statutes. They attended
several lectures for which they had to pay fees, and they studied
the Internal Revenue Code and related materials. Some of the
lecturers were former Internal Revenue Service employees, and
petitioners believed the other lecturers to be expert or
knowledgeable in the field of taxation.
Petitioners reached the conclusion that they were entitled
to a rebate of the extra tax they paid due to being married and
that their wages are not taxable. Petitioners’ 1995 joint
Federal income tax return was in all pertinent respects complete
in that it advised respondent of the information necessary to
2 The parties’ stipulation of facts and the information in
the attached exhibits are incorporated by this reference.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011