Court Opinion

ID: 9460971
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:03:33.399625+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:50.724378
License: Public Domain

CARR, District Jiidge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I concur in the affirmance of the judgment of conviction on Count One.
I am compelled to conclude that the Government’s case was insufficient to support the judgments of conviction respecting Counts Two, Three and Four. My main concern is with the issues of law in each of the three counts. Many interpretations of the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury Regulations were required. A reading of the Reporter’s Transcript, as well as a study of the exhibits, compels me to conclude that the transactions involved in Counts Two, Three and Four are matters for the civil courts. The Government is required to prove every element of the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.
It does not seem appropriate to resort to the concurrent sentence doctrine since Treasury will, in all probability, endeav- or to assess tax penalties upon the theory that the finding of guilt stamps the transactions as fraudulent. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969).
The distinction between tax avoidance and tax evasion is sometimes difficult to discern. As Judge Learned Hand said in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Newman (2nd Cir. 1947), 159 F.2d 848 at 850:
« ->:• •>:- * over an¿[ over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.”