16
Opinion of the Court
be set aside if the reviewing court may confidently say, on the whole record, that the constitutional error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt").
To obtain a conviction on the tax offense at issue, the Government must prove that the defendant filed a tax return "which he does not believe to be true and correct as to every material matter." 26 U. S. C. § 7206(1). In general, a false statement is material if it has "a natural tendency to influence, or [is] capable of influencing, the decision of the decisionmaking body to which it was addressed." United States v. Gaudin, 515 U. S., at 509 (quoting Kungys v. United States, 485 U. S. 759, 770 (1988) (internal quotation marks omitted)). In a prosecution under § 7206(1), several courts have determined that "any failure to report income is material." United States v. Holland, 880 F. 2d 1091, 1096 (CA9 1989); see 136 F. 3d, at 1465 (collecting cases). Under either of these formulations, no jury could reasonably find that Neder's failure to report substantial amounts of income on his tax returns was not "a material matter." 1
At trial, the Government introduced evidence that Neder failed to report over $5 million in income from the loans he obtained. The failure to report such substantial income incontrovertibly establishes that Neder's false statements were material to a determination of his income tax liability. The evidence supporting materiality was so overwhelming, in fact, that Neder did not argue to the jury—and does not argue here—that his false statements of income could be found immaterial. Instead, he defended against the tax charges by arguing that the loan proceeds were not income
1 Justice Stevens says that the failure to charge the jury on materiality is harmless error in this case because the jury verdict "necessarily included a finding on that issue." Post, at 26 (opinion concurring in part and concurring in judgment). While the evidence of materiality is overwhelming, it is incorrect to say that the jury made such a finding; the court explicitly directed the jury not to consider the materiality of any false statements.
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