- 19 - Finally, we think that Palmer v. United States, 116 F.3d 1309 (9th Cir. 1997), provides added authority for our decision. In Palmer, the Commissioner had established the taxpayer’s income-earning capacity but had no information as to income earned during the middle 2 of the 4 years in question. The Commissioner reconstructed the taxpayer’s income for the middle 2 years using average income statistics and the inference that the taxpayer had survived the middle 2 years on income earned during those years. Given the taxpayer’s failure to suggest an alternative means of support, the Court of Appeals thought the Commissioner’s inference to be reasonable. That reasonable inference, together with the link the Commissioner had shown to an income-earning capacity, provided the minimal evidentiary foundation required by the Court of Appeals. Here, we have found that petitioner owned rental real estate both before and after the years in question. Petitioner has not suggested an alternative means of support during the intervening years, so we think it a reasonable inference that she survived those years using income earned during them. That reasonable inference, coupled with her income-earning capacity (from rental real estate), provides a minimal evidentiary foundation linking petitioner to an income-producing activity.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
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