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what her father’s income was for 2001, but also that she even was
uncertain of what her father did for a living. There is no
testimony relating to the AGI of Ms. Guzman’s parents, who owned
the house in which petitioner lived, or of anyone else in the
family living in the household. Under the circumstances of this
case, we find that petitioner has not substantiated his
contention, and we therefore hold that he is not entitled to the
claimed earned income credit. Again we note that we have no
reason to doubt that petitioner could have arranged for Ms.
Guzman’s parents to testify or otherwise present evidence as to
their AGI. Petitioner failed to do so, and we must conclude that
this evidence would have been unfavorable to him. See Bresler v.
Commissioner, supra; Pollack v. Commissioner, supra; Wichita
Terminal Elevator Co. v. Commissioner, supra.
This matter was heard in Fresno, California. This Court
considered whether this matter might properly be continued to a
date and time in Los Angeles, where petitioner and petitioner’s
family resided and this Court hears cases regularly. We were
concerned that any potential witnesses, if present, would be
better able to substantiate petitioner’s contentions than only
petitioner and Ms. Guzman. Petitioner, nevertheless, chose to
proceed in the absence of any witnesses other than Ms. Guzman.
Accordingly, petitioner’s contentions were unsupported, and his
evidence was unsubstantiated and unauthenticated. He simply did
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