- 18 -
At trial, petitioner argued that “there’s nothing in the IRS
Code that says that taxes are anything but voluntary.”
Apparently in petitioner’s view, respondent should be satisfied
with what petitioner has previously reported as his tax liability
on his returns and should not be dunning him for anything more.
The short answer to petitioner’s argument is that it is
wrong, it is frivolous, and it deserves no further discussion.
See Crain v. Commissioner, 737 F.2d 1417 (5th Cir. 1984); see
also Wilcox v. Commissioner, 848 F.2d 1007, 1008 (9th Cir. 1988)
(rejecting taxpayer's claim that paying taxes is voluntary),
affg. T.C. Memo. 1987-225; Carter v. Commissioner, 784 F.2d 1006,
1009 (9th Cir. 1986) (same); Bland-Barclay v. Commissioner, T.C.
Memo. 2002-20 (“This Court and Federal courts across the nation
have repeatedly rejected the argument that * * * reporting and
paying income taxes is strictly voluntary.”).
At trial, petitioner also professed to rely on various
“consultants” who advised him that there is no section in the
Internal Revenue Code that makes a taxpayer liable for the
Federal income tax.
Under some circumstances, a taxpayer may avoid liability for
10(...continued)
satisfied the burden of production with respect to petitioner’s
liability for the accuracy-related penalty under sec. 6662(a) and
(b)(1). See Lysek v. Commissioner, 583 F.2d 1088, 1094 (9th Cir.
1978) (the negligence penalty may be justified if the taxpayer
fails to maintain adequate records), affg. T.C. Memo. 1975-293;
Crocker v. Commissioner, 92 T.C. 899, 916-917 (1989) (same).
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011