Opinion ID: 782729
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Existence of Tax Laws.

Text: 39 Next, the Defendants contest the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that liquor imported into Canada and the Province of Ontario is subject to excise duties and other taxes. The Defendants argue that without such evidence the government failed to show that the wire fraud scheme charged in this case sought to deprive Canada or the Province of Ontario of any property interest. In a similar vein, the Defendants also argue that the evidence was insufficient to prove that they personally owed Canada or the Province of Ontario any taxes in connection with the liquor that they are alleged to have smuggled. 40 We reject these arguments. First, we hold that the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that liquor imported into Canada and the Province of Ontario was subject to excise duties and other applicable taxes at the time of the Defendants' conduct as charged in this case. The evidence is in the form of trial testimony by Officer Jonah. Based upon her seventeen years of employment experience with Canadian Customs, Officer Jonah testified that she was familiar with the rules and regulations that pertain to the importation of alcoholic beverages into Canada. Then, in answer to government counsel's request that she describe for the court and the jury what, if any, taxes or duties are due and owing on alcohol that is imported from the United States into Canada, Officer Jonah testified as follows: 41 Alcohol is taxed very high in Canada. There is an excise tax, that is a federal tax, that is applied, depending on the value of it, the U.S. purchase price. There is a general sales tax that is also a federal tax. There is a Liquor Control Board of Ontario tax. And there also is a provincial sales tax. 42 (J.A. 177). Officer Jonah further testified that, in preparation for her testimony, she calculated that the Canadian and Province of Ontario taxes that would be due and owing on a case of imported alcohol that was purchased in the United States for fifty-six American dollars would be approximately one hundred American dollars, which converts to approximately 157 Canadian dollars. 43 Even though Officer Jonah did not specifically state that the taxes of which she was speaking were in force at the time of the Defendants' conduct as charged in this case, the context of her entire testimony permitted the jury to draw this reasonable inference. For example, Officer Jonah was assigned to investigate the Defendants on suspicion of liquor smuggling based upon their conduct as charged in this case. In sum, we have no reservations that the evidence at trial was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that liquor imported into Canada and the Province of Ontario was subject to excise duties and other applicable taxes at the time of the Defendants' conduct as charged in this case. 44 Second, the Defendants' challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence establishing that they personally owed Canada or the Province of Ontario any taxes in connection with the liquor that they are alleged to have smuggled completely misses the mark. Proof that the Defendants personally owed such taxes is not required under the wire fraud statute as long as there was proof that they participated in a fraudulent scheme to enable someone to avoid such taxes. Cf. Brewer, 528 F.2d at 496 (where defendant knowingly devised mail fraud scheme to enable Florida residents to obtain cigarettes without declaring them for taxation, it was no defense to mail fraud prosecution that defendant herself owed no tax). The testimony of Officer Jonah that we just discussed serves as such proof in this case. Indeed, from the testimony of Officer Jonah and the overall context in which it was given in relation to the joint United States and Canadian investigation which led to this prosecution, it was a reasonable inference that the Canadian taxes were due by the importer upon importation of liquor into Canada. The jury found and at trial the Defendants never challenged the proposition that such taxes were due by the importer. Nonetheless, as we recognized in Brewer, the defendant could not avoid prosecution under the federal mail fraud statute on the ground that she herself owed no taxes on the cigarettes she smuggled into Florida from North Carolina. Id. The quintessential element is that the scheme in the present case involved defrauding the Canadian authorities of revenue taxes on imported liquor regardless of what party had responsibility for the payment of those taxes. The precise time when the taxes are owed and whom they are due from are not elements of the offense. What is required is proof that such taxes were due and the conduct involved a scheme to defraud the Canadian authorities of the taxes.