1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*209 An appropriate order will be issued.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
BEGHE, JUDGE: Respondent determined the following deficiencies in and additions to petitioner's Federal income tax:
1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*210 Additions to Tax
_____________________________________
Year Deficiency Sec. 6651(a)(1)
____ __________ _______________ ____________
1994 $ 6,735 $ 1,387 $ 280
1995 8,141 2,035 317
All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code in effect for the years at issue, and all Rule references are to the Tax Court Rules of Practice and Procedure.
BACKGROUND
Petitioner has not filed Federal income tax returns for the years in question. Respondent's determinations are based primarily on petitioner's receipt of wage income as a teacher and pension income from prior employment, plus small amounts of self- employment and interest income. The only ground upon which petitioner's timely filed petition contests respondent's determinations is that "As a direct descendant of the First Nations of this continent ('Indian') I am not taxed under the provisions of ARTICLE 1 [sic], SECTION 2, OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES".
When petitioner filed his petition, he gave his address as Waterview, Kentucky, 1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*211 and designated Louisville, Kentucky, as the place of trial. However, the case was continued from the Court's January 11, 1999, Louisville trial session because petitioner had taken a temporary teaching position at the Oglala Sioux Reservation at Pine Ridge, South Dakota.
The case is before the Court on respondent's motion for summary judgment under Rule 121. In his response to respondent's motion, petitioner relies, as he does in his petition, upon
In his response to respondent's motion, petitioner also asserts -- for the first1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*212 time -- that if he should be mistaken in his claim to exemption from Federal income tax, he is entitled to itemized deductions for charitable contributions and payments of home mortgage interest, which would substantially reduce his tax liabilities, that he had and continues to have reasonable cause for not filing tax returns, and that additions for failure to pay estimated tax should not be imposed.
DISCUSSION
Respondent's motion will be granted in part, insofar as we sustain respondent's determinations that petitioner is not exempt from Federal income tax and that petitioner is liable for estimated tax additions on any deficiencies that we may ultimately redetermine.
Respondent's motion for summary judgment will be denied in part, insofar as petitioner will be given the opportunity to amend his petition to plead and at a trial to prove the facts that bear on his belated assertions of entitlement to itemized deductions and of reasonable cause for failure to file returns.
1. PETITIONER'S CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among
the several States which1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*213 may be included within this Union,
according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined
by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those
bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not
taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. [1]
It is well settled that the phrase "excluding Indians not taxed" is simply part of an apportionment provision designed to determine the number of representatives for each State and to correctly apportion the direct taxes among the States. In apportioning the representatives and direct taxes among the States, "Indians not taxed" were excluded from the count.
2. PETITIONER'S TAX STATUS UNDER STATUTE OR TREATY
It is also well settled that general acts of Congress, including the Internal Revenue Code, apply to Indians unless a statute or a treaty expressly exempts them. See
As the Supreme Court said in
We agree with the Government that Indians1999 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 209">*215 are citizens and
that in ordinary affairs of life, not governed by treaties or
remedial legislation, they are subject to the payment of income
taxes as are other citizens. * * *
The prevailing rule is that all statutes of general application apply to American Indians absent an express exemption found in a statute or a treaty. See
As the Court of Appeals said in
Although the taxpayer [a certified member of the Turtle
Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and Chief of the Grand Council
of Confederated Nations] has cited more than thirty treaties, he
has failed to point to any provision in any of the treaties
which exempts his wages from federal income taxation because he
is an Indian. The Tax Court was also unable to find any
exempting provision. As the taxpayer has failed to demonstrate
his right to an exemption, the decision of the Tax Court is
affirmed.
3. ESTIMATED TAX ADDITION
4. REMAINING ISSUES FOR TRIAL
We doubt, on the basis of the arguments and authorities in respondent's motion, that petitioner will be able to prove facts that will persuade the Court that he had reasonable cause for failure to file returns. See
An appropriate order will be issued.
1. Amended in respects not germane to this inquiry by