Court Opinion

ID: 9499538
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:51:10.246112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:34.429450
License: Public Domain

MAYS, District Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the majority’s conclusion that the district court’s sentence must be vacated and the case remanded for resen-tencing. I agree also with the well-reasoned explanation for vacating the sentence. However, because I believe the majority erred in explaining how the district court should determine Defendant’s sentence on remand, I respectfully offer this concurrence.
The majority has concluded that “the district court may — but is not required to — calculate or consider Defendant’s tax loss amount” in sentencing. (Maj. op., p. 777.) The Sentencing Guidelines do not give the district court that discretion. Section 2T1.9(a) explicitly instructs the judge to calculate a defendant’s base offense level by “applying] the greater” of the numbers that result from (1) using the tax table at § 2T4.1 to translate tax loss amount into an offense level, or (2) setting the base offense level at 10. The application notes explain: “The base offense level is the offense level [calculated using tax loss, if any] ... if that offense level is greater than 10. Otherwise, the base offense level is 10.” (USSG § 2T1.9, comment (n.2).) Therefore, the trier of fact, here a judge, is required to determine the defendant’s tax loss, and the judge must calculate a base offense level based on that amount. If the resulting base offense level is greater than ten, the judge is required to apply the greater base offense level. If the resulting base offense level is ten or less, the judge is required to set the defendant’s base offense level at ten. In no circumstance is the judge free to choose one method of determining base offense *779level; he must use both methods, compare the results, and choose the greater.
Certainly, the district court would not be bound by the resulting guidelines, but failure to calculate the guidelines properly would be reversible error. United States v. Davis, 458 F.3d 491, 495 (6th Cir.2006). Having calculated the guidelines properly, the district court may then revisit the tax loss amount in addressing the § 3553 factors and exercising its discretion.