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history of section 6015 supports my conclusion and conflicts with
the majority’s conclusion.
Section 6015 finds its roots in the House. The House
Committee on Ways and Means was concerned with the adequacy of
then-present law on relief from joint liability for tax,
interest, and penalties in that the relief was afforded only to
individuals who qualified as innocent spouses. The committee
viewed the law as “inadequate” in that “it is inappropriate to
limit innocent spouse relief only to the most egregious cases
where the understatement is large and the tax position taken is
grossly erroneous.” H. Rept. 105-364 (Part 1), supra at 61,
1998-3 C.B. at 433. The committee believed that “partial
innocent spouse relief should be considered in appropriate
circumstances, * * * that all taxpayers should have access to the
Tax Court in resolving disputes concerning their status as an
innocent spouse * * * [and] that taxpayers need to be better
informed of their right to apply for innocent spouse relief in
appropriate cases”. Id. The House bill made “innocent spouse
status easier to obtain.” Id. The House committee report
explains the relevant parts of the House bill as follows:
The bill eliminates all of the understatement
thresholds and requires only that the understatement of
tax be attributable to an erroneous (and not just a
grossly, erroneous) item of the other spouse.
The bill provides that innocent spouse relief may
be provided on an apportioned basis. That is, the
spouse may be relieved of liability as an innocent
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