Kawashima v. Holder: SCOTUS Case
Zayd Alsardary
American Government
Kawashima v. Holder: SCOTUS Case
Main Issue: Whether a person can be deported for filing a false statement on a corporate tax return under a statute that allows the government to deport anyone convicted of an aggravated felony involving fraud and deceit.
Overview of case:
Akio and Fusako Kawashima, the petitioners in the case, are residents of the United States and have been since 1984. In 1997, it was found out that Mr. Kawashima, with help from his wife, filed a false corporate tax return that understated their income and therefore basically cheated the government of owed tax revenue – and this violated Section 7206 of the tax code.
A provision in immigration law allows the government to deport anyone who has been convicted of an "aggravated felony", which is defined toward anything along the lines of murder and drug trafficking, but as time went on, an offense that was added is any offense that deals with fraud and deceit in which the victim loses more than $10,000 in the crime which is described in section 7201 of title 26.
Because the Kawashimas were convicted of filing a false return (a violation of Section 7206 of the tax code), rather tax evasion (a violation of Section 7201), they were not subject to deportation. Despite that, the government still put down deportation proceedings against them on the belief that the Kawashimas filing a false tax return is a form of “fraud or deceit”. ---> (There is no dispute that the crime resulted in a loss of more than $10,000 to the government.)
Main Question: Whether Congress meant for the broader fraud subsection to encompass tax violations which is specifically for tax evasion.
The Kawashimas are arguing that by only addressing tax violations in the second subsection (the revenue loss to the government exceeds $10,000) but basing that to tax evasion, Congress showed that they were trying to leave out other kinds of tax violations in the meaning of "aggravated felony". In turn, the government is agruing that tax evasion counts as fraud and deceit, which then falls into the first subsection (involves fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000). Basically it is trying to be decided whether tax evasion is fraud and deceit based on what is said in section 7201 of title 26. The question in the case is whether filing a false tax return counts as an “aggravated felony”.
The case is to take place on November 7, 2011.
Predictions: I believe that the Kawashimas will be in favor a bit because the meaning of aggravated felony will be put down many times, especially since it is not clear when talking about it. I kind of do believe that filing a false tax return is fraud and especially deceit since you are purposely trying to mislead someone, but then the question that comes to play is the intentions. I am actually interested to know what the outcome will be.
American Government
Kawashima v. Holder: SCOTUS Case
Main Issue: Whether a person can be deported for filing a false statement on a corporate tax return under a statute that allows the government to deport anyone convicted of an aggravated felony involving fraud and deceit.
Overview of case:
Akio and Fusako Kawashima, the petitioners in the case, are residents of the United States and have been since 1984. In 1997, it was found out that Mr. Kawashima, with help from his wife, filed a false corporate tax return that understated their income and therefore basically cheated the government of owed tax revenue – and this violated Section 7206 of the tax code.
A provision in immigration law allows the government to deport anyone who has been convicted of an "aggravated felony", which is defined toward anything along the lines of murder and drug trafficking, but as time went on, an offense that was added is any offense that deals with fraud and deceit in which the victim loses more than $10,000 in the crime which is described in section 7201 of title 26.
Because the Kawashimas were convicted of filing a false return (a violation of Section 7206 of the tax code), rather tax evasion (a violation of Section 7201), they were not subject to deportation. Despite that, the government still put down deportation proceedings against them on the belief that the Kawashimas filing a false tax return is a form of “fraud or deceit”. ---> (There is no dispute that the crime resulted in a loss of more than $10,000 to the government.)
Main Question: Whether Congress meant for the broader fraud subsection to encompass tax violations which is specifically for tax evasion.
The Kawashimas are arguing that by only addressing tax violations in the second subsection (the revenue loss to the government exceeds $10,000) but basing that to tax evasion, Congress showed that they were trying to leave out other kinds of tax violations in the meaning of "aggravated felony". In turn, the government is agruing that tax evasion counts as fraud and deceit, which then falls into the first subsection (involves fraud or deceit in which the loss to the victim or victims exceeds $10,000). Basically it is trying to be decided whether tax evasion is fraud and deceit based on what is said in section 7201 of title 26. The question in the case is whether filing a false tax return counts as an “aggravated felony”.
The case is to take place on November 7, 2011.
Predictions: I believe that the Kawashimas will be in favor a bit because the meaning of aggravated felony will be put down many times, especially since it is not clear when talking about it. I kind of do believe that filing a false tax return is fraud and especially deceit since you are purposely trying to mislead someone, but then the question that comes to play is the intentions. I am actually interested to know what the outcome will be.
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