George E. Johnson and Sylvia v. Johnson v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

PREGERSON, Circuit Judge:

George and Sylvia Johnson appeal a United States Tax Court determination of a $168,060 deficiency in their federal income tax for 1971. This additional tax liability, asserted by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue under the minimum tax provisions of Internal Revenue Code § 56, arose when taxpayers exercised certain employee stock options. Taxpayers dispute the Commissioner’s position that the mean New York Stock Exchange trading price of the stock appropriately measured the stock’s fair market value for purposes of determining the minimum tax, even though…