Wright v. Commissioner
Decision Date | 19 February 1981 |
Docket Number | Docket No. 18953-80. |
Citation | 1981 TC Memo 65,41 TCM (CCH) 895 |
Parties | Ronald W. Wright and Constance J. Wright v. Commissioner. |
Court | U.S. Tax Court |
Ronald W. Wright, pro se. Robert N. Armen, for the respondent.
This case was assigned to Special Trial Judge Francis J. Cantrel for the purpose of conducting the hearing and ruling on respondent's motion to dismiss based upon failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted filed herein. After a review of the record, we agree with and adopt his opinion which is set forth below.1
CANTREL, Special Trial Judge:
This case is presently before the Court on respondent's motion to dismiss based upon failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted filed on November 14, 1980, pursuant to Rule 40, Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.2
Respondent in his notice of deficiency issued to petitioners on July 14, 1980, determined a deficiency in petitioners' Federal income tax and an addition to the tax for the taxable calendar year 1978 in the following respective amounts:
Addition to Tax, IRC 19543 Income Tax Sec. 6653(a) $2,336.00 ............... $116.80
The only income adjustments determined by respondent were for a claimed conscience deduction of $6,669 and $109 claimed for taxes for local telephone, electricity, and water.4
No proper amended pleading has been filed by petitioners.
Rule 34(b) provides in pertinent part that the petition in a deficiency action shall contain "clear and concise assignments of each and every error which the petitioner alleges to have been committed by the Commissioner in the determination of the deficiency or liability" and "clear and concise lettered statements of the facts on which petitioner bases the assignments of error." On this record, no justiciable error has been alleged in the petition with respect to the Commissioner's determination of the deficiency, and no justiciable facts in support of such error are extant therein. Rather, petitioners consume their entire petition raising, in the main, constitutional arguments, i.e., that their constitutional rights have been violated under the First, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments.
In justification of their conscience deduction, petitioners presented, in their memorandum of authorities and at the hearing, an elaborate argument in an attempt to convince the Court that to compel them to pay taxes for war would constitute forcing them to violate their conscience, religious training, and beliefs in contravention of their rights guaranteed by the First, Fifth, and Ninth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. While we do not question petitioners' apparent sincerity in bringing their case to this Court, we cannot offer them any relief in view of well-established further precedents.
For more than 20 years, in a long and undeviating line of cases, this Court and others have disallowed deductions or credits taken by taxpayers for a portion of their taxes which they estimated to be attributable to military expenditures and to which they objected because of their religious, moral, and ethical objections to war and because of their claimed "rights" under various constitutional provisions and amendments thereto, the Nuremburg Principles, national and international law, and numerous international agreements and treaties. Greenberg v. Commissioner Dec. 36,763, 73 T.C. 806 (1980); Lull v. Commissioner 79-2 USTC ¶ 9475, 602 F. 2d 1166 (4th Cir. 1979), affg. per curiam Lull v. Commissioner and Herby v. Commissioner, memorandum opinions of this Court, cert. denied 444 U.S. 1014 (1980); First v. Commissioner 77-1 USTC ¶ 9104, 547 F. 2d 45 (7th Cir. 1976), affg. per curiam a memorandum opinion of this Court; Autenrieth v. Cullen 69-2 USTC ¶ 9724, 418 F. 2d 586 (9th Cir. 1969), cert. denied 397 U.S. 1036 (1970); Kalish v. United States 69-1 USTC ¶ 15,894, 411 F. 2d 606 (9th Cir. 1969), cert. denied 396 U.S. 835 (1969); Farmer v. Rountree 56-2 USTC ¶ 10,005, 149 F. Supp. 327 (M.D. Tenn. 1956), affd. per curiam 252 F. 2d 490 (6th Cir. 1958), cert. denied 357 U.S. 906 (1958); Anthony v. Commissioner Dec. 33,848, 66 T.C. 367 (1976); Scheide v. Commissioner Dec. 33,529, 65 T.C. 455 (1975); Egnal v. Commissioner Dec. 33,489, 65 T.C. 255 (1975); Russell v. Commissioner Dec. 32,139, 60 T.C. 942 (1973); Muste v. Commissioner Dec. 24,708, 35 T.C. 913 (1961).
"Whether and to what extent deductions shall be allowed depends on legislative grace; and only as there is clear provision therefor can any particular deduction be allowed." New Colonial Ice Co.v. Helvering 4 USTC ¶ 1292, 292 U.S. 435, 440 (1934). No statutory provision exists to allow the deduction sought here by petitioners. "General grievances against the policies of the Government, or against the tax system as a whole, are not the types of controversies to be resolved in the courts; Congress is the appropriate body to which such matters should be referred." Tingle v. Commissioner, supra at 822-823.
The record here is crystal clear. Petitioners, in their petition, have not assigned any justiciable error with respect to the substantive adjustments to their income which were determined by respondent in his notice of deficiency. Nor have petitioners alleged any justiciable facts to show that respondent erred in determining those adjustments.9 The document filed as a petition is not in conformance with this Court's Rules of Practice and Procedure and does not state a claim upon which we can grant any relief.10 The absence in the petition of specific justiciable allegations of error and of supporting facts permits this Court to grant respondent's motion. Rule 123(b); cf., Klein v. Commissioner Dec. 27,664, 45 T.C. 308 (1965); Goldsmith v. Commissioner Dec. 23,205, 31 T.C. 56 (1958); Weinstein v. Commissioner Dec. 22,638, 29 T.C. 142 (1957).
Finally, while not material in view of our disposition of this case, petitioners seek to present proof at any subsequent trial of the factual allegations made in their petition, e.g., to put on "evidence" of the U.S....
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