Black v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue

• Decision Date: 21 December 1977
• Docket Number: 7461-75.,Docket Nos. 3986-75
• Citation: 69 T.C. 505
• Parties: CARLIN J. BLACK and VIRGINIA H. BLACK, PETITIONERS v. COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT
• Court: U.S. Tax Court

69 T.C. 505

CARLIN J. BLACK and VIRGINIA H. BLACK, PETITIONERS

v.COMMISSIONER of INTERNAL REVENUE, RESPONDENT

Docket Nos. 3986-75

7461-75.

United States Tax Court

Filed December 21, 1977.

Held: Sec. 214, I.R.C. 1954, as amended and in effect in 1972 and 1973, does not constitute unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of marital status, sex, or interference with family relationships in violation of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Nammack v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 1379 (1971), affd. per curiam459 F.2d 1045 (2d Cir. 1972), followed. Nor does such section constitute an unconstitutional intrusion into the free exercise of religion prohibited by the First Amendment. Carlin J. Black and Virginia H. Black, pro se.

Peter W. Mettler, for the respondent.

OPINION

TANNENWALD, Judge:

Respondent determined deficiencies in petitioners' Federal income tax as follows:

+--------------------------------+
                ¦Docket No.  ¦Year  ¦Deficiency  ¦
                +------------+------+------------¦
                ¦            ¦      ¦            ¦
                +------------+------+------------¦
                ¦3986-75     ¦1972  ¦$2,468.64   ¦
                +------------+------+------------¦
                ¦7461-75     ¦1973  ¦2,011.08    ¦
                +--------------------------------+
                

The only issue for decision is whether section 214¹ is constitutional.

All of the facts have been stipulated. The stipulation of facts, together with the exhibits attached thereto, is incorporated herein by this reference.

At the time of filing the petition herein, petitioners, husband and wife, resided in New York, N. Y. Petitioners filed joint Federal income tax returns for the taxable years 1972 and 1973 with the Office of the Internal Revenue Service at Holtsville, N.Y.

Petitioners were both employed full time throughout the years 1972 and 1973 and had two children under the age of 15 during those years. Petitioners employed persons to care for their children during those times when they were simultaneously away from home in connection with their jobs. They deducted the amounts paid these persons from their gross income as child care expenses under section 214. Respondent disallowed the deductions.

Insofar as pertinent to this case, during the taxable years in issue, section 214² imposed three requirements in respect of child care expenses: (1) Taxpayers were required to reduce the allowable deduction by one-half the amount by which their adjusted gross income exceeded $18,000; (2) married persons had to file a joint return in order to obtain the deduction; and (3) the amount of the deduction could not exceed $400 for any month.

Petitioners concede that they are not entitled to any deduction under section 214, but contend that each of the foregoing requirements constitutes an arbitrary and unreasonable classification in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Their argument is based upon the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, the principles of which are encompassed within the 5th Amendment as applied to Federal legislation. See, e.g., Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, 420 U.S. 636, 638 n. 2 (1975).

We have previously considered both the limitation on adjusted gross income and the limitation on the amount deductible and upheld both. Nammack v. Commissioner, 56 T.C. 1379 (1971), affd. per curiam 459 F.2d 1045 (2d Cir. 1972). Inferentially, we also sustained the requirement that married couples must file a joint return to obtain a section 214 deduction. Petitioners ask us to reconsider and reverse our decision in Nammack. As we see it, the only ground upon which such action on our part might be justified is that, as petitioners urge, subsequent decisions, particularly those of the Supreme Court, require the conclusion that section 214 imposes an impermissible classification on the basis of marital status, sex, or interference with family relationships. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, we disagree with petitioners' assertions.

For economic legislation such as is involved herein, the test of constitutionality is whether the legislative action is “rationally based and free from invidious discrimination.” See Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U.S. 471, 487 (1970). To this test should be added the principle that, even where there are doubts, the usual presumption of constitutionality is “particularly strong in the case of a revenue measure.” See Nammack v. Commissioner, supra at 1385.

Viewed against such background, we find nothing in the subsequently decided cases which supports the conclusion that section 214 violates the above-mentioned test of constitutionality. All of the cases, to which petitioners point, deal with conceded discrimination and hold that the usual test of rational basis was not met. E.g., Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, supra (social security benefits payable to the widow, but not the widower); Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972) (contraceptives permitted to be furnished to married, but not unmarried persons). Cf. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture v. Moreno, 413 U.S. 528 (1973) (food stamps denied for unrelated persons in a household); Stanton v. Stanton, 421 U.S. 7 (1975) (support for female children until age 18 as against male children until age 21); Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973) (limitation of benefits to spouses of female members of the Armed Forces which was not applicable to benefits of spouses of male members).

Not only do the recent Supreme Court decisions fail to support petitioners' position, but other subsequently decided cases, both in substance and in rationale, reinforce the conclusions we reached in Nammack and our decision herein. Barter v. United States, 550 F.2d 1239 (7th Cir. 1977), affg. per curiam sub nom. Johnson v. United States, 422 F. Supp. 958 (N.D. Ind. 1976) (upholding different tax rates for married and single taxpayers); Shinder v. Commissioner, 395 F.2d 222 (9th Cir. 1968), affg. per curiam T.C. Memo. 1967-73 (same); Bruinooge v. United States, 550 F.2d 624 (Ct. Cl. 1977) (sustaining different exclusions from combat pay for enlisted personnel and warrant officers, on the one hand, and commissioned officers on the other); Estate of Klein v. Commissioner, 63 T.C. 585, 593-594 (1975), affd. 537 F.2d 701 (2d Cir. 1976) (sustaining section 6013(e) which provides different treatment of an innocent spouse depending upon whether there is an omission from gross income exceeding 25 percent); Kellems v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 556 (1972), affd. per curiam 474 F.2d 1399 (2d Cir. 1973) (upholding different tax rates for married and single taxpayers).

Nor are we impressed with petitioners' attempt to justify their claim that section 214 constitutes a constitutionally prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex—-an area in which the legislation under scrutiny may well have to meet a more stringent standard of review. See Frontiero v. Richardson, supra. We upheld section 214 against a similar attack in Nammack v. Commissioner, supra. Petitioners concede that section 214 is neutral on its face, a fact which, among others, clearly distinguishes this case from Moritz v. Commissioner, 469 F.2d 466 (10th Cir. 1972), revg. 55 T.C. 113 (1970), relied upon by petitioners.³ They assert, however, that it can be assumed that section 214 is based on the premise that married women will not work unless it is an economic necessity, but petitioners admit they have no evidence to support this argument. They also argue that section 214 operates as an economic deterrent to women who wish to work outside the home, but they fail to show that section 214 does, in fact, have such an impact. Moreover, in light of the present day pattern of working wives, it is not unlikely that the husband, rather than the wife, may be so influenced. In this connection, we note that the mere possibility that the application of section 214 may be disadvantageous is not sufficient ground for holding it unconstitutional. See Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 239-242 (1976). We also note that in its most recent pronouncement, the Supreme Court pointed out that financial need alone (which can be equated with petitioners' argument of an extra financial burden purportedly imposed on married couples by section 214) was insufficient to sustain the position that the requirement of equal protection had not been met. See Maher v. Roe, U.S. , 97 Sup. Ct. 2376, 2381 (1977) (holding that the denial of the use of State aid to pay the pregnacy-related medical expenses of indigent women did not impinge on any fundamental right or otherwise violate the test of rationality). In short, we are satisfied, as we were in Nammack v. Commissioner, supra, that section 214 should not be invalidated on the basis of sex discrimination.⁴

Petitioners also contend that section 214 constitutes an unconstitutional intervention into the affairs of the family in that it interferes with their decisions regarding the care of their children. We recognize that the Supreme Court has, on several occasions, held governmental interference with marriage and family life unconstitutional. Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 (1923) (criminal prohibition against teaching foreign languages to children who had not passed the eighth grade); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) (criminal law requiring parent or guardian to send child to public school); Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) (criminal law restricting married persons' access to contraceptives); Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) (criminal law prohibiting interracial marriages). But, these cases have invalidated direct prohibitions on individual decisions regarding marriage and family life. In contrast, section 214 has only an incidental and indirect effect on the family unit. As we read the Supreme Court decisions, they do not have the reach for which petitioners argue. See Maher v. Roe, supra; Barter v. United States, supra.

Finally, petitioners argue that classification based on marital status is an unconstitutional intrusion into the free exercise of religion...