Pollinger v. Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board

362 F. App'x 5
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 15, 2010
Docket09-12295
StatusUnpublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 362 F. App'x 5 (Pollinger v. Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pollinger v. Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board, 362 F. App'x 5 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

Harry Pollinger (“Pollinger”) appeals, pro se, the district court’s grant of summary judgment on his claims that the government intentionally, recklessly, or negligently disregarded the law in connection with the collection of his federal income tax for tax years 2000 to 2002. The government moves us to sanction Pollinger for maintaining a frivolous appeal. After reviewing the record, we vacate in part for Pollinger’s constitutional claims to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment on the statutory claims, and deny the government’s motion for sanctions.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Pollinger’s Complaint

In January 2007, Pollinger filed a complaint against the United States, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and others challenging the amount of tax liability assessed against him and the collection methods used, including garnishing his wages, seizing his bank accounts, and filing tax liens on his real estate. Rl-1 at 1-2, 5-10. Liberally construed, Pollinger explained that he exchanged his life and liberty for wages, so government seizure of his wages was an illegal seizure of life and liberty. See id. at 15. He claimed the IRS had issued a notice of federal tax lien for tax years 2000-2002 and that he had exhausted all administrative remedies in that regard. Id. at 6, 9. The relief Polling-er sought included a finding that his property was improperly taken, an order that the tax liens be released, the return of all the property and money seized, statutory damages of $2 million, and costs/interest. Id. at 22-23.

Pollinger raised six claims: (1) the need to quiet title on his real estate, which the government was claiming an interest in, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2410; (2) the government’s failure to comply with 26 U.S.C. § 6213(a) by issuing procedurally invalid notices of deficiency, notices of levy, and notices of tax liens in violation of various constitutional provisions; (3) a violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”) and the Due Process and Just Compensation Clauses of the Fifth Amendment by the IRS improperly asserting tax liability and taking his property; (4) the government’s failure to comply with 26 U.S.C. § 7432 by issuing a procedurally improper tax levy and refusing to release the notice of lien, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6325; (5) issuance of a bill of attainder by labeling him an illegal tax protester and taking his property without a trial and via procedurally invalid notices of levy and tax liens in violation of various constitutional provisions; and (6) illegal seizure of his labor in violation of the Just Compensation Clause of the Fifth Amendment and other constitutional provisions.1 Id. at 10-21.

B. Pollinger’s Motion for Summary Judgment

In April 2008, Pollinger filed a motion for summary judgment on all claims. Rl-[7]*747. He asserted that the government had taken his sweat equity and labor property from him by garnishing his wages, seizing his savings from his bank, and encumbering his real property. Id. ¶¶ 1-4, 6-7. Pol-linger asserted for the first time that he exhausted his administrative remedies pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7433 and was filing a claim under § 7433 to recover damages from the IRS for its arbitrary seizures. Id. ¶¶ 8, 53-56. He argued that he was entitled to judgment because the government (1) did not establish a basis for tax liability on his compensation, and (2) improperly relied on the presumption of correctness of “Form 4340 — Certificate of Assessments” to show the amount of the tax assessment that applied to him and how that calculation was reached when the preparer of the form had no personal knowledge of the accuracy of the calculations the form contained. Id. ¶¶ 10-15, 23-31. Moreover, he contended that the tax lien against his property should be released because the notices of deficiency: (1) ambiguously cited “Individual Income” as a basis for liability, (2) did not articulate a relevant statutory basis for tax liability, (3) cited an irrelevant code section, 26 U.S.C. § 1040, as the statute under which he was liable for the taxes, and (4) did not provide a factual basis for his tax liability. Id. ¶¶ 16-22.

Pollinger argued that he was entitled to a basis or depreciation for the value of his labor and, because the government did not prove he was not entitled to a basis, his compensation was not shown to be income. Id. ¶¶ 33-44. Further, Pollinger argued that the government documents purporting to support his tax liability and penalties were not in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, and thus the assessments were invalid. Id. ¶¶ 45-52. In support of his motion, Pollinger filed, inter alia, notices of deficiency for 2000 and 2001. Doc. 48, Exh. H.

Pollinger also filed a motion for “Fair and Impartial Rulings, Hearings [and] Trials not Steeped in Judicial Activism.” Rl-49 at 1. He asserted that courts often rubber stamp acts of the IRS because judges are federal employees. Id. at 1-2, 11-15. Pollinger explained his perceptions of bias and that he was filing the motion to preserve his common law rights. Id. at 2-6. He requested strict adherence to precedent rather than judicial activism or bias. Id. at 7-11,15-19.

C. Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment

The government also filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that Polling-er was clearly seeking relief pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7432 allowing civil damages for the government’s failure to release a tax lien, not 26 U.S.C. § 7433, allowing damages for unauthorized collection actions. Rl-51 at 4. The government explained that the IRS had followed proper procedures while assessing Pollinger’s tax liability. Id. at 7-11. Regarding Pollinger’s claim for quiet title, the district court lacked jurisdiction because the United States waived sovereign immunity only for procedural challenges to a tax lien, not the underlying merits of the tax assessment, but Pollinger was contesting the validity of the tax assessment underlying the lien on his property. Id. at 11-13. Pollinger’s just compensation claim was without merit because the constitutionally authorized income tax did not violate the Constitution. Id. at 13. Moreover, due process was satisfied by the availability of judicial remedies. Id. at 13-14. Pollinger’s argument that a bill of attainder was issued against him by the government’s labeling him an “illegal tax protester” was misplaced because IRS records did not label him as such. Id. at 15. Additionally, any direct claim for money damages based on consti[8]

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362 F. App'x 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pollinger-v-internal-revenue-service-oversight-board-ca11-2010.