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This Court has before it a large number of cases which
deserve careful consideration as speedily as possible,
and cases of this sort needlessly disrupt our
consideration of those genuine controversies.
Moreover, by filing cases of this type, the protesters
add to the caseload of the Court * * * and such cases
increase the expenses of conducting this Court and the
operations of the IRS, which expenses must eventually
be borne by all of us.
Hatfield v. Commissioner, 68 T.C. 895, 899 (1977). Although we
did not require the taxpayer in that case to pay a penalty, we
stated that “if tax protestors continue to bring such frivolous
cases, serious consideration should be given to imposing such
damages.” Id. at 900.
We are convinced that petitioner instituted or maintained
the present case primarily, if not exclusively, as a protest
against the Federal income tax. Further, it is readily apparent
that petitioner’s position is frivolous and groundless. See,
e.g., Smith v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2000-290. Thus, we would
be fully justified in requiring petitioner to pay a penalty
pursuant to section 6673. On the other hand, this Court’s
jurisdiction over lien and levy actions is barely 2 years old,
see RRA 1998 sec. 3401, and we have not previously required a
taxpayer who abused the protections afforded by sections 6320 and
6330 to pay a penalty pursuant to section 6673. Nor have we
previously provided unequivocal warning to such taxpayers that we
may require them to pay such a penalty. Accordingly, we have
decided not to require petitioner to pay a penalty in this case.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011