N. Joseph Calarco v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, No. 1530-03S, U.S. Tax Court, Summary Opinion 2004-94; 2004 Tax Ct. Summary LEXIS 69 (July 20, 2004, Filed)
Yep, Wayne State University theater professor N. Joseph Calarco tripped up when he claimed mileage for his Tuesday/Thursday library trips to research Beethoven at the University of Michigan library in Ann Arbor, the Detroit Public Library, and the Purdy Library at Wayne State. Problem was he apparently did not check the library schedules before filing. He claimed deductions for July 4th and Memorial Day.
For an entertaining and educational glimpse into how the U.S. tax court determines when playwriting and other artistic endeavors yet to bear monetary fruit are allowable deductions, take a look at this case. It also looks at when claims veer too far.
Judge Mark V. Holmes writes it with a flourish, sprinkling the opinion with literary references to the Epic of Gilgamesh (a narrative of friendship begun during a protest against government exactions), Swift, Dickens and Shakespeare. Henry VIII 'A sixt part of each? / A trembling contribution! Why, we take / From every tree, lap, bark and part o' th' timber; / And, though we leave it with a root, thus hack'd, / the air will drink the sap.'
Judge Holmes concludes with his own creative verse:
Dramatists used to finish with some rhymes,
Mostly iambs with a pinch of dactyly,
But in these more prosaic times
Works usually end more matter-of-factily.
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