Grimes v. Commissioner

1979 T.C. Memo. 514, 39 T.C.M. 777, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 16
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedDecember 26, 1979
DocketDocket No. 13634-78.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1979 T.C. Memo. 514 (Grimes v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grimes v. Commissioner, 1979 T.C. Memo. 514, 39 T.C.M. 777, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 16 (tax 1979).

Opinion

JOHN A. GRIMES AND MARILYN C. GRIMES, Petitioners v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
Grimes v. Commissioner
Docket No. 13634-78.
United States Tax Court
T.C. Memo 1979-514; 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 16; 39 T.C.M. (CCH) 777; T.C.M. (RIA) 79514;
December 26, 1979, Filed
John A. Grimes, pro se.
Karen Nicholson Sommers, for the respondent.

DAWSON

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DAWSON, Judge: Respondent determined a deficiency of $3,353 in petitioners' Federal income tax for 1976 and an addition to tax of $168 under section 6653(a). 1

On September 17, 1979, respondent filed a motion for summary judgment. Petitioners filed*17 a response on October 12, 1979, objecting to the motion on various alleged constitutional grounds and others. Arguments on the motion for summary judgment were heard on November 5, 1979, at the San Diego Trial Session. By leave of Court the petitioners filed on November 26, 1979, a memorandum of points and authorities asserting their rights under the First Amendment to the Constitution and stating their views as to what constitutes taxable income.

The facts are relatively simple. Petitioners were legal residents of El CajonCalifornia, when they filed their petition in this case. On or before April 15, 1977, they filed a joint Federal income tax return for the taxable year 1976 with the Internal Revenue Service Center at Fresno, California. On that return the petitioner John A. Grimes reported that he received wages of $23,282.38. The Form W-2 attached to the return shows that the petitioner received wages in that amount from the Owl Electric Company and that Federal income taxes were withheld in the amount of $4,408.06. However, on an amended return filed May 26, 1977, petitioners reported that they received no taxable income and stated that "income listed on Form 1040 for*18 year 1976 included, in error, accounts receivable." In his statutory notice of deficiency dated September 22, 1978, the respondent determined that the petitioners' adjusted gross income for 1976 was $23,127 as reported on their original return. Respondent also disallowed for lack of substantiation deductions of $4,234 claimed as charitable contributions on the petitioners' original return.

Respondent has conceded that petitioners have substantiated and are entitled to a deduction for charitable contributions in the total amount of $5,539.

On or about March 25, 1979, petitioner John A. Grimes submitted an affidavit to the Internal Revenue Service admitting that he had been informed by numerous sources, including the Internal Revenue Service, that he has a duty to file income tax returns, report wages as income thereon and pay income taxes on his wages.

Petitioner cites several cases which he contends support his position that a Federal income tax is an excise tax and as an excise tax cannot be applicable to wages or salary for personal services. In support of his contention, petitioner relies on the following definition of income in Eisner v. Macomber, 252 U.S. 189, 207 (1920):

*19 "Income may be defined as the gain derived from capital, from labor, or from both combined," provided it be understood to include profit gained through a sale or conversion of capital assets, * * *.

He cites a number of cases quoting the above statement from Eisner v. Macomber,supra, and he argues that the wages he received from personal services are not a gain from capital or labor since the gain from labor contemplated by the Supreme Court refers to the gain or profit derived from contracting the services or labors of employees.

Soon after the promulgation of the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution various challenges to the income tax laws were raised on constitutional grounds. The Supreme Court held that the income tax law enacted in 1913 following the adoption of the Sixteenth Amendment was constitutional. This law levied taxes on salaries and wages received by individuals as well as taxing other income items of both corporations and individuals. Brushaber v. Union Pacific R.R. Co.,240 U.S. 1 (1916); Tyee Realty Co. v. Anderson, 240 U.S. 115 (1916). In the recent case of Autenrieth v. Cullen, 418 F.2d 586 (9th Cir. 1969),*20

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Bluebook (online)
1979 T.C. Memo. 514, 39 T.C.M. 777, 1979 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grimes-v-commissioner-tax-1979.