Horace E. And Edith B. Nichols v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

CLARK, Circuit Judge,

with whom

BELL, COLEMAN, RONEY and GEE, Circuit Judges, join, dissenting:

The filing fee paid by Justice Nichols was not paid into a political party general campaign fund. Rather, it was used to defray the necessary cost of conducting the party primary. Justice Nichols was not opposed in the primary or in the general election; therefore, merely entering the primary was tantamount to election. He had to pay the fee to continue in the only job he had. In no pragmatic sense could it be said that he incurred the expense in “trying to be a judge.” Whether the fee is viewed as a…