Harlan E. Baxter and Imogene Baxter v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Lovell J. Proby and Eva M. Proby v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

GOODWIN, Judge:

Two decisions of the Tax Court are combined for review. Taxpayers Harlan and Imogene Baxter seek to reverse a decision in favor of the Commissioner, and Taxpayers Lovell and Eva Proby seek to sustain a decision in their favor against the Commissioner. The Commissioner seeks review of the Proby decision only by way of a protective petition, i. e., asking reversal of Proby only if the Baxter decision is reversed.

The facts, substantially as found by the Tax Court, are summarized as follows:

Between 1945 and 1959, Proby developed a profitable business selling traffic-light systems…