Filed: Oct. 22, 2018
Latest Update: Mar. 03, 2020
Summary: Case: 18-50017 Document: 00514691599 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/22/2018 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 18-50017 FILED Summary Calendar October 22, 2018 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee v. RODNEY LYLE ROBERTS, Defendant-Appellant Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 5:16-CR-709-1 Before KING, SOUTHWICK, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. PER CU
Summary: Case: 18-50017 Document: 00514691599 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/22/2018 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit No. 18-50017 FILED Summary Calendar October 22, 2018 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee v. RODNEY LYLE ROBERTS, Defendant-Appellant Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 5:16-CR-709-1 Before KING, SOUTHWICK, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. PER CUR..
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Case: 18-50017 Document: 00514691599 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/22/2018
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
No. 18-50017 FILED
Summary Calendar October 22, 2018
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
RODNEY LYLE ROBERTS,
Defendant-Appellant
Appeals from the United States District Court
for the Western District of Texas
USDC No. 5:16-CR-709-1
Before KING, SOUTHWICK, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM: *
Rodney Lyle Roberts appeals his convictions and sentence for four counts
of making and subscribing false federal income tax returns in violation of 26
U.S.C. § 7206(1) and requests a hearing en banc. Roberts’s underlying
argument is that the income he failed to report on the tax returns in question
was not subject to federal income taxation. Construed liberally, see Yohey v.
Collins,
985 F.2d 222, 225 (5th Cir. 1993), Roberts’s brief challenges the
* Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not
be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH
CIR. R. 47.5.4.
Case: 18-50017 Document: 00514691599 Page: 2 Date Filed: 10/22/2018
No. 18-50017
sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions, as well as the procedural
correctness of his sentence given that the district court’s guidelines
calculations were based upon the total tax loss.
Roberts contends that, under Brushaber v. Union Pac. Ry. Co.,
240 U.S.
1, 10-13 (1916), the federal income tax is an excise tax that applies only to
income derived from a privilege controllable by the government and not to
income such as his, which was derived from common right contract payments
made by private, nongovernmental entities. In Parker v. Comm’r,
724 F.2d
469, 471-72 (5th Cir. 1984), we rejected a similar challenge to the breadth of
the federal income tax system that also relied in part on Brushaber. The
Parker court stated that, “[a]t this late date, it seems incredible that we would
again be required to hold that the Constitution, as amended, empowers the
Congress to levy an income tax against any source of income, without the need
to apportion the tax equally among the states, or to classify it as an excise tax
applicable to specific categories of activities.”
Id.
Despite Roberts’s expressed disagreement with the Parker decision, one
panel of this court may not overrule the decision of another where, as here,
there is no intervening contrary or superseding decision by the Supreme Court
or this court sitting en banc. See United States v. Lipscomb,
299 F.3d 303, 313
& n.34 (5th Cir. 2002). Given that Roberts’s underlying legal argument is
foreclosed by Parker, his related challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence
supporting his convictions and the sentencing guidelines calculations lack
merit. See United States v. Carbins,
882 F.3d 557, 562-63 (5th Cir. 2018). The
district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED.
Finally, Roberts has failed to establish that “en banc consideration is
necessary to secure or maintain uniformity of the court’s decisions” or that “the
proceeding involves a question of exceptional importance.” FED. R. APP. P.
2
Case: 18-50017 Document: 00514691599 Page: 3 Date Filed: 10/22/2018
No. 18-50017
35(a); see 5TH CIR. R. 35.1. Accordingly, Roberts’s petition for en banc hearing
is DENIED.
3