Court Opinion

ID: 9641316
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:28:23.378218+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:36.535432
License: Public Domain

DENMAN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting in part).
This is a concurrence in the preceding opinion, save as to the refusal to allow as an ordinary business expense the amount spent on the two hiss preventing dentures. Petitioner, whose taxable income principally is earned by the profession o£ acting in motion pictures and as a performer over the radio, claimed a deduction of $3,000 for two upper dentures specially planned and constructed to prevent a hissing sound in his speaking in the •two functions of his profession. The deficiency letter, pleaded in his petition to the Board of Tax Appeals,' and admitted by the Commissioner’s answer, made no contention that the claimed deduction for the dentures was incorrect in amount but held that it “is not considered an ordinary and necessary [expenditure] in carrying on a trade or business.” Section 23 of the Revenue Act of 1934, c. 277, 48 Stat. 680.
At the hearing before the Board the evidence was uncontradicted that in actual use the dentures successfully eliminated the hissing which had interfered with taxpayer’s performances and tended to lessen or destroy the income sought to be taxed. The teeth he had had were satisfactory save for the hiss. The fact that he paid $3,500 for those eliminating the hiss and claimed $3,000 of that amount for a business expense, leaving $500 for their use at other times, when he could have used his former satisfactory teeth, is not relevant in view of the fact that the amount of the deduction is not questioned.1 The Board held as a matter of law that be- ' cause such dentures, facilitating his professional activities and income, were “personal” in making such assistance, upheld the Commissioner in the following language: “The sum of $3,000, being part of an expenditure of $3,500 for two upper dentures claimed as a business expense, is disallowed. The statute expressly disallows ‘personal’ expenses. It would be difficult to imagine anything more personal *779than a set of false teeth. Although the immediate suggestion that the purchase of the new upper dentures be made, may have occurred in connection with his professional activity, the expenditure was nevertheless so purely personal in character as to deny it classification as a business expense. Conceivably the presence of a hiss m his enunciation would seem just as objectionable in the speech of a preacher,' a lecturer or any other person who depends on his voice in his business or profession as in the speech of an actor. The respondent is sustained.”
It is the ordinary practice of actors to make alterations in the mouth for the more effective presentation of the characters in which they are cast. For aged parts teeth are blackened to make it appear there are none, cheeks are stuffed out by pads to fatten the face, throats are sprayed to eliminate hoarseness, and obstructions are fastened to teeth to give a comic lisp or other affectation of speech. Per contra is the classic account of Demosthenes who sought to overcome an obstruction in his speech and to clarify his enunciation by declaiming his orations on the seashore with a pebble in his mouth.
Nothing could be more “personal” in one sense of the term than all these customary aids to speech and appearance in the actors’ profession. Expenditures are not to be disallowed as not a business expense just because the business is one of the exploitation of one’s personal gifts. As well could it be said that expenditures for costumes, rouge, face paints and the like, all intimately personal, should not be allowed. The word “personal” as used in Section 24:
“(a) General rule. In computing net income no deduction shall in any case be allowed in respect of—
“(1) Personal, living, or family expenses; * * *.” 26 U.S.C.A.Tnt.Rev. Code, § 24.
means personal as distinguished from the business expenditures of the preceding Section 23.
There is no merit in the suggestion that, because there is no evidence that an actor’s expenditure for a hiss preventing device for his mouth has not been allowed before, it is not an “ordinary” expenditure. It is ordinary practice to propel a boat or run a factory by mechanical power. Was the expense of running the first gas engine and later the first diesel not deductible because a new technique of power was used? If such a principle be accepted, both the Commissioner and the taxpayer will never know the exact date when the expenditure became ordinary.
The deduction should be allowed.

 Sparks uncontradicted testimony is: “Explaining deduction. claimed in 1935 of $3,000 for teeth purchased from Dr. Charles Gr. Hartley, over a period of fifteen years I have constantly been in the hands of dentists, being afflicted with teeth that were not very good, I would say. It was necessary to constantly revamp them. Extractions made it necessary to rebuild certain portions of the mouth. At the time in question, my mouth was in such condition that the whole job had to be done, and at that time I detected a slight hiss, which would not do in my business. Therefore, in consulting the dentists available, it was determined on a certain definite piece of work in order to insure the future of the teeth, that two sets had to be built in case anything might haxjpe» to the other one. That work cost me $3500.00, of which we claim $3,000.00 exemption. After thoso teeth were built and installed, I was enabled to earn $172,000.-00. Had the teeth not been expertly made, there is a question in my mind if I could have earned $10,000.00. It is very definitely a fact in my mind that I would have been quickly eliminated from my profession. My other teeth were all right. I could do perfectly with them, but as I have stated, I had a certain hiss when I would use the letter ess. You cannot hiss in the moving picture business. You must enunciate clearly, and when you don’t, you don’t work. The teeth I had were satisfactory, for every other purpose, except for my hiss.. The two sets bought were upper dentures. The purpose of the two sets was insurance. As to what type of insurance,— the studios pay $4,000.00 a week. I feel it very much incumbent upon me to do everything I can to safeguard their interests. I thought perhaps I might drop one of the bridges in my mouth and destroy it. They certainly would not be able to wait for a' dental job approximately six weeks. After I got the new teeth I did not hiss on the letter ess. My speech has been restored perfectly.”