context: The Commissioner argued that back pay was taxable income because it was paid on account of a nonper-sonal injury. Although we have rejected that argument here, given that the Commissioner prevailed in the Tax Court on the issue, that Byrne had not yet been decided by this Court, the inconsistency we have found in the Tax Court's approach to this issue, see supra n. 5, and the assumption by many courts that such back pay awards are taxable, see supra note 15 and accompanying text, we think that the Commissioner's position could be deemed as reasonably supported in the case law.
citation_a.signal: see
citation_a.identifier: 850 F.2d 242, 246
citation_a.parenthetical: requiring taxpayer to prove that the government's position was unjustified
citation_a.sentence: See, e.g., Smith v. United States, 850 F.2d 242, 246 (5th Cir.1988) (requiring taxpayer to prove that the government’s position was unjustified); Boatmen’s First Nat’l Bank of Kansas City v. United States, 723 F.Supp. 163, 170 (W.D.Mo.1989); Feldmar v. Commissioner, 56 T.C.M. (CCH) 1414, 1416 (1989) (“In determining whether [the government’s] position was not substantially justified, the question is one of whether [the government’s] position in the litigation was unreasonable.”).
citation_b.signal: cf.
citation_b.parenthetical: interpreting the phrase "substantially justified" for purposes of the closely related Equal Access to Justice Act to mean justified to a degree that would satisfy a reasonable person
citation_b.sentence: Cf. Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 2550, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988) (interpreting the phrase “substantially justified” for purposes of the closely related Equal Access to Justice Act to mean justified to a degree that would satisfy a reasonable person).