Lee E. Coombs and Judy B. Coombs v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, James C. Cox v. United States

Two groups of taxpayers appeal from two sets of unfavorable judgments, one entered by the Tax Court and one entered by the district court. The appellants in No. 77-2026 are taxpayers whose fifty-two cases were consolidated for trial in the Tax Court. The Tax Court’s opinion, Coombs v. Commissioner, is reported at 67 T.C. 426 (1976). The appellants in No. 78-2036 are taxpayers whose fifteen cases were consolidated for trial in the District of Nevada. The district court’s opinion, Cox v. United States, is reported at 78-2 U.S.T.C. (CCH) H 9572 (D.Nev.1978). Because the two cases arise out of almost identical factual circumstances, the appeals have been consolidated.

In each set of cases the taxpayers sought to exclude from income various allowances from their employers or, in the alternative, to deduct from their gross incomes various expenses pursuant to the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (I.R.C.). The taxpayers also allege that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue discriminated against them when it treated the allowances received from their employers as income. Both the district court and the Tax Court ruled against the taxpayers on each of their claims, although…