David Gerald Lockmiller - Page 7

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          U.S. 540, 547 (1983), which presumption has been described as               
          “particularly strong”, Nammack v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 1379,               
          1385 (1971), affd. per curiam 459 F.2d 1045 (2nd Cir. 1972); see            
          Black v. Commissioner, 69 T.C. 505, 507-508 (1977).  Generally,             
          statutory classifications are valid if they bear a rational                 
          relation to a legitimate governmental purpose.  See Regan v.                
          Taxation With Representation, supra.  A higher level of scrutiny            
          is applied if a statute interferes with the exercise of a                   
          fundamental right, such as freedom of speech, or employs a                  
          suspect classification, such as race.  See, e.g., id.; Harris v.            
          McRae, 448 U.S. 297, 322 (1980).                                            
               Congress's power to categorize and classify for tax purposes           
          is extremely broad.  See Regan v. Taxation With Representation,             
          supra; Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co., 410 U.S. 356, 359           
          (1973);  Charles C. Steward Mach. Co. v. Davis, 301 U.S. 548, 584           
          (1937); Brushaber v. Union Pac. R.R., 240 U.S. 1, 26 (1916);                
          Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U.S. 107, 158 (1911); see also                
          Barter v. United States, 550 F.2d 1239, 1240 (7th Cir. 1977) (per           
          curiam) (statutory difference in tax rates for married couples              
          and single individuals does not violate Due Process of law of the           
          Fifth Amendment; “perfect equality or absolute logical                      
          consistency between persons subject to the Internal Revenue Code            
          * * * [is not] a constitutional sine qua non”).  In Regan v.                
          Taxation With Representation, supra at 547-548, the Supreme Court           






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