United States v. Townsend

REYNALDO G. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

Defendant was convicted under I.R.C. § 7201 for evasion of excise tax. The district court found a tax deficiency, affirmative acts constituting tax evasion, and that defendant acted willfully. For the reasons discussed below we affirm.

I. Introduction

This case involves the use of a fraudulent Form 637 in an attempt to circumvent federally imposed excise tax. In 1987 federal law imposed an excise tax of nine cents on each gallon of gasoline sold for highway use. A wholesale distributor of gasoline holding a valid “Registration for Tax-Free Transactions,” or Form…