Opinion ID: 326172
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The constitutionality of the burden of proof.

Text: 23 Rockwell argues that to impose the burden of persuasion on him is to deny him due process of law. The argument borders on the frivolous. In most litigation, from time immemorial, the burden of proof-i. e., the burden of persuasion-is on the plaintiff. If Rockwell had paid the tax and sued in the district court to recover it, he would have had to shoulder that burden. The alternative right, provided by the Congress, to contest the deficiency before the Tax Court without first paying the tax, is a matter of grace, granted to relieve taxpayers of the necessity of paying before suing. There is no reason to hold that the provision of this alternative remedy shifted the taxpayer's burden of proof. 24 In tax matters, the Congress can condition the taxpayer's right to contest the validity of a tax assessment pretty much as it sees fit. See Cheatham v. United States, 1875, 92 U.S. 85, 88-9, 23 L.Ed. 561; Graham v. Du Pont, 1923, 262 U.S. 234, 254-5, 43 S.Ct. 567, 67 L.Ed. 965; Phillips v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1931, 283 U.S. 589, 595, 51 S.Ct. 608, 75 L.Ed. 1289. See also Helvering v. Taylor, 1935, 293 U.S. 507, 515, 55 S.Ct. 287, 79 L.Ed. 623; Lucas v. Structural Steel Co., 1930, 281 U.S. 264, 271, 50 S.Ct. 263, 74 L.Ed. 848. One would have thought that, if there were a constitutional defect in Rule 32 (now Rule 142(a)), the Supreme Court would long since have found it. 25 Moreover, if the question were res integra, we would uphold the rule. The taxpayer knows the facts that relate to whether he was dealing in buying, trading, and selling the properties in question. He can (and Rockwell did) testify as to what his intent or purpose was. The Commissioner, on the other hand, must rely on circumstantial evidence, most of it coming from the taxpayer and the taxpayer's records, in deciding whether or not to assert a deficiency. It is not at all unfair, in such a case, to place on the taxpayer the burden of persuading the trier of fact, in this case the Tax Court. 26 The Tax Court committed no reversible error in exercising its discretion to exclude certain cumulative evidence offered by Rockwell. 27 Affirmed.