Opinion ID: 433047
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: An Alternative Theory

Text: 27 But while we cannot accept the government's second use theory because it is inconsistent with the statutory purpose of complying with the constitutional prohibition against self incrimination, that same purpose suggests appropriate limits to the application of section 4424(a). That section, like its more general counterpart, section 6103(a), prohibits disclosure only by government employees who come into possession of information for the purpose of revenue enforcement. While these prohibitions against disclosure have one clear governmental purpose of facilitating the collection of revenue by encouraging compliance with the tax laws, they have another clear purpose, more significant to taxpayers, of assuring that the compulsory filing and record keeping provisions of the Code are not used as devices for compelled self incrimination with respect to non-revenue matters. If the records in question have not been furnished to the Internal Revenue Service in a return, or surrendered in the course of an audit, and have not been maintained by the taxpayer, in compliance with the Internal Revenue Code for the purpose of making a return or submitting to an audit, then the self incrimination purposes of section 4424(a) are not implicated. 28 In this case the district court found that Busk never filed the required wagering tax returns. The Court found, moreover, that Busk's motivation for making the records was only to enable him to carry on his wagering business. These findings are not clearly erroneous. Indeed they are probably compelled by the undisputed evidence that some of the records were discarded in a storm sewer shortly after use. The court concluded that Busk failed to show that these records were compelled to be kept by the statutory mandate of the wagering tax statute .... App. at 219. Absent such a showing, we hold that at least in cases where the records have not been voluntarily presented to the Internal Revenue Service by a taxpayer, suppression on the authority of sections 6103(a) and 4424(a) of Title 26 was not required. See United States v. Brian, 507 F.Supp. 761, 768-69 (D.R.I.1981).