United States Ninth Circuit

A conviction for willful failure to pay over employee payroll taxes is affirmed where: 1) US v. Poll, 521 F.2d 329 (9th Cir. 1975), is no longer good law; 2) willfulness does not require the government to prove that a defendant had the ability to meet his tax obligations; 3) thus, the district court's refusal to give a Poll instruction to the jury and the instruction it did give on willfulness were proper; and 4) for similar reasons, the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to admit evidence proffered by defendant in order to show how and why he spent money owed to the IRS to pay other business expenses.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/10/2008
• Decided 08/22/2008
• Published 08/22/2008

Judges

• SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge:, Before:  MARY M. SCHROEDER and N. RANDY SMITH, Circuit Judges, and VALERIE BAKER FAIRBANK, District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Gregory V. Davis, Washington, DC, for plaintiff-appellee United States of America., Dennis P. Riordan, San Francisco, CA, for defendant-appellant Jack E. Easterday.