Neila A. Autenrieth v. Joseph M. Cullen, District Director of Irs

In this action, 124 plaintiffs seek refunds of federal income taxes paid by each of them, some for 1965, some for 1966, some for both years. Some seek 17% of the tax paid, some 67%. The District Court dismissed the action, and we affirm.

The District Court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1340 , 1346(a) (l). Named as defendants are the District Director of Internal Revenue at San Francisco and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The parties are agreed, however, that the action should be treated as one against the United States and the trial judge did so treat it. We do likewise.

The complaint contains many pages of citations of treaties, including some to which the United States is not a party, of reports of alleged war crimes committed in Viet Nam and other press reports about the Viet Nam War, of claims made by the Viet Cong and by the North Vietnamese government, and of other similar material. Plaintiffs, however, do not ask us to hold that the Viet Nam war is unconstitutional or illegal. Cf. Kalish v. United States, 9 Cir., 1969, 411 F.2d 606 , cert, denied, October 13, 1969, 396 U.S. 835 , 90 S.Ct. 93 , 24 L.Ed.2d 86 . The nature of plaintiffs’ claims is stated in the…