United Cerebral Palsy Association of New York, Inc. (CP), New York, N.Y. 10017. *The Jewish Guild for the Blind (IB), New York, N.Y. 10023. United Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County Inc. (CP), Roosevelt, N.Y. 11575. North Carolina *Lions Club Industries for the Blind (IB), of Western North Carolina, Inc., Asheville, N.C. 28803. *Charlotte Workshop for the Blind (IB), Charlotte, N.C. 28205. Goodwill Industries of the Research Triangle Area Inc. (GI), Durham, N.C. 27701. *Lions Club Industries for the Blind, Inc. (IB), Durham, N.C. 27703. *Industries for the Blind (IB), Greensboro, N.C. 27402. *Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind, Inc. (IB), Raleigh, N.C. 27603. *Industries for the Blind (IB), Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101. Ohio *Cincinnati Association for the Blind (IB), Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Jewish Vocational Service, Inc. (JO), Cincinnati, Ohio 45237. Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries Rehabilitation Center (GI), Cincinnati, Ohio 45215. *Cleveland Society for the Blind (IB), Cleveland, Ohio 33103. Goodwill Industries of Cleveland (GI), Cleveland, Ohio 44103. *Goodwill Industries of Central Ohio, Inc. (GI), Columbus, Ohio 43212. Vision Center (IB), Columbus, Ohio 43201. Goodwill Industries of Dayton, Inc. (GI), Dayton, Ohio 45402. Goodwill Industries of Toledo, Inc. (GI), Toledo, Ohio 43604. *Youngstown Society for the Blind and Disabled (IB), Youngstown, Ohio 44511. Oklahoma *Oklahoma League for the Blind (IB), Oklahoma City, Okla. 73104. Goodwill Industries of Tulsa, Inc. (GI), Tulsa, Okla. 74107. Oregon Open Door, Inc. (RF), Corvallis, Oreg. 97330. *Oregon Industries for the Blind (IB), Portland, Oreg. 97214. St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation (RF), Services of Oregon, Inc., Portland. Oreg. 97211. Marie Mills Center, Inc. (RF), Tillamook, Oreg. 97141. Pennsylvania *Delware County Branch, Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (IB), Chester, Pa. 19103. *Chester County Branch, Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (IB), Coatesville, Pa. 19320. Goodwill Industries of Central Pennsylvania, Inc. (GI), Harrisburg, Pa. 17102. Goodwill Industries of the Conemaugh Valley, Inc. (GI), Johnstown, Pa. 15902. *Center for the Blind (IB), Philadelphia, Pa. 19104 Jewish Employment and Vocational Service, Inc. (JO), Philadelphia, Pa. 19103. Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh (GI), Pittsburgh, Pa. 15203. *Pittsburgh, Branch, Pennsylvania Association for the Blind (IB), Pittsburgh, Pa. 15213. Allied Services for the Handicapped, Inc. (RF), Scranton, Pa. 18508. Puerto Rico Industries for the Blind of Puerto Rico (IB), Santurce, P.R. 00910. Rhode Island Association for the Blind (IB), Providence, R.I. 02905. Chattanooga Goodwill Industries, Inc. (GI), Chattanooga, Tenn. 37407. Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. (GI), Nashville, Tenn. 37208. *Mason Brandon Industries for the Blind (IB), Nashville, Tenn. 37209. Teras Goodwill Industries of Austin, Inc. (GI), Austin, Tex. 78703. South Texas Lighthouse for the Blind (IB), Corpus Christi, Tex. 78403. Utah Utah Services for the Visually Handicapped (IB), Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. Vermont *Vermont Workshop for the Blind (IB), Montpelier, Vt. 05602. Virginia The Sheltered Occupational Center of Northern Virginia, Inc. (RF), Arlington, Va. 22203. *Virginia Industries for the Blind (IB), Charlottesville, Va. 22902. Friendship Industries, Inc. (RF), Harrisonburg, Va. 22801. Olympic Peninsula Enterprises (RF), Bremerton, Wash. 98310. New Leaf, Inc. (RF), Burlington, Wash. 98233. *Snohomish County Center for the Handicapped, Inc. (RF), Everett, Wash. 98201. United Cerebral Palsy of Benton-Franklin Counties (RF), Kennewick, Wash. 99336. South King County Activity Center (RF), Kent, Wash. 98031. Goodwill Industries of the Columbia, Inc. (GI), Pasco, Wash. 99301. *Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. (IB), Seattle, Wash. 98144. Inland Empire Goodwill Industries (GI), Spokane, Wash. 99202. Tacoma Goodwill Industries Rehabilitation Center, Inc. (GI), Tacoma, Wash. 98409. Wisconsin Curative Workshop of Green Bay, Inc. (RF), Green Bay, Wis. 54301. Goodwill Industries, Milwaukee Area, Inc. (GI), Milwaukee, Wis. 53225. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1973. U.S. TAX COURT WITNESSES W. M. DRENNEN, CHIEF JUDGE L. H. IRWIN, JUDGE WM. F. HUFFMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR R. J. MOLISKI, DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR D. H. BAXTER, BUDGET AND ACCOUNTING OFFICER Mr. STEED. The committee will be in order. The committee will now take up the 1974 budget request for the U.S. Tax Court. Under "Salaries and Expenses" the appropriation for 1973 was $4,307,000. The request for 1974 is $5,760,000, an increase of $1,453,000. Included in the request is an item for 6 additional positions bringing the total for the court to 193. We are very pleased to have our old friend Chief Judge Drennen with us today. Judge, if you would like, identify your associates for the record, and we would like to have a biography for any new ones with you. Judge DRENNEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. [The information follows:] LEO H. IRWIN, judge North Carolina-born 1917, Stratford, N.C.; parents W. Carl Irwin and Mallie Wilson Irwin (deceased); married Doris Mickelson; daughters, Sandra Lee, Lisa Ann, Patrice Camille (Trissi), and Lori Denice; son, Leo H., Jr. (Chip); attended public schools in Sparta, N.C.; colleges, University of North Carolina 1935–38; George Washington University (night) 1938-40 A.B.; Georgetown University Law Center 1940-42 (night) and 1946-47, LL.B.; Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity; admitted to practice North Carolina and District of Columbia courts and District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals 1947, and Supreme Court of the United States 1963; Federal Government career beginning in 1938 as a messenger in the Department of Agriculture, and including the Civil Service Commission, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Civil Aeronautics Board and from 1949 to 1968 professional staff member, minority counsel, and 14 years as chief counsel, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives; adjunct professor, graduate school, Georgetown University Law Center (night) 1962-63; 4 years' active service 1942-46, as communications officer and flag secretary in U.S. Navy Reserves in Washington, Norfolk, and Pacific theater; member, Federal Bar Association; oath of office as judge, U.S. Tax Court, January 11, 1968, for term expiring June 2, 1970, to succeed Judge Russell E. Train; reappointed, term expiring June 2, 1985; residence: 5508 24th Avenue SE. 20031. ROBERT J. MOLISKI, deputy executive director; born July 30, 1925, Syracuse, N.Y.; married Mary Elinor Watson, seven children, four sons and three daughters; graduated from Christian Brothers Academy High School, Syracuse, N.Y., 1943; Syracuse University, B.S., business administration, 1950; George Washington University Law School, 1958; LL. B.; Georgetown University Law School, LL.M. 1961. Admitted to the Bar of Virginia and District of Columbia 1959. Military service, U.S. Navy 1943-46; served with the Department of the Navy as placement officer, 1954-57; U.S. Information Agency as personnel officer, 1957-69; Department of the Air Force as contractor industrial relations specialist, 196970; appointed on February 8, 1970, to the U.S. Tax Court as deputy executive director; residence: 8418 Conover Place, Alexandria, Va. 22308. DONALD H. BAXTER, budget and accounting officer; born 1926, Washington, D.C.; three sons and two daughters; attended public schools in Washington, D.C.; Maryland University, B.S., 1950; served in the U.S. Army 1944-46; Civil Service; Navy Department 1950-64; Foreign Claims Settlement Commission 1965-72; appointed budget and accounting officer, U.S. Tax Court, November 27, 1972: residence 11919 Centerhill Street, Wheaton, Md. 20902. Mr. STEED. Then we will be glad to have your presentation. Judge DRENNEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am accompanied by Judge Irwin, whom you know, and by Mr. Huffman, Executive Director of the Court, on my right. On my left, Mr. Baxter, who is our new fiscal officer, replacing Mr. Keeter, who retired, and Mr. Moliski, Deputy Executive Director. OPENING STATEMENT Judge DRENNEN. Mr. Chairman, and members of this committee, thank you for permitting me this opportunity to present the budgetary requirements and program objectives of the tax court for 1974. Before commenting in detail on the court's request I would like to call your attention to two general facts. First, we are not requesting new obligational authority for the "Construction" appropriation in 1974; to the best of my knowledge the $20,628,000 appropriated to date for the new court building is adequate. Second, the 1974 estimates for "Salaries and Expenses" do not include the 5.14 percent pay raises which became effective last January. The added cost of that percentage increase applied to the salaries projected in the 1974 request will be approximately $125,000 and undoubtedly will be presented later with other such requirements by the Office of Management and Budget. 1973 REPROGRAMING Also before further discussing the 1974 request, I would like to thank this committee for its expeditious approval of the court's 1973 reprograming request which will enable the court to acquire courtroom facilities in Boston this year, another step in alleviating the serious space problem encountered in certain areas. Preparation of the Boston facility will consume $96,000 of the total of $107,000 to be reprogramed. 1974 SALARIES AND EXPENSES The request we now present before this committee for the court's 1974 Salaries and Expenses appropriation totals $5,760,000, or $1,453,000 above the $4,307,000 appropriated for the current year. Two items associated with moving to the new court building account for the major portion of this increase. These items are: $1,280,000 for equipment, furniture, furnishings and accessories, and $138,000 for reimbursable services provided by GSA for custodial, protective and operation and maintenance requirements. Such services are currently provided at no cost to the court at its present location. The balance of $35,000 is for salary step increases. WORKLOAD Actual data for 1972 continues to show steady progress in the disposition of cases before the court. One means of measuring our posture is to compare the size of the pending caseload with the average annual input of new cases. In the 1950's the average pending caseload was 10,912 compared to an average of 5,752 filings, or almost a 2 to 1 relationship. During the sixties there was slight improvement when the comparable figures were an 11,015 average caseload against a 6,000 average input of new cases. For the first 3 years of the seventies the outstanding caseload has been reduced to 11⁄2 times the size of the average annual filings. If our goals for 1973 and 1974 prove accurate, we will maintain or slightly improve this relative position. SMALL TAX CASES Of course, separate records on small tax cases only go back to 1969, when the Tax Reform Act of that year was enacted. However, it appears that we have reached the peak in the number of cases filed under the new procedure for adjudicating such cases, and if the number of new cases filed each year average in the range of 2,300 to 2,400, we should be able to keep quite current with the small tax cases. If you look at the other figure, you will find we are disposing of up to that or more cases in any one year. I think we will actually be cutting back on the number of pending cases in the small tax case category. If this continues, we will be keeping very current with those small tax cases. In other words, we will be getting to them and disposing of them just about as quickly as they are ready for trial. TRIAL PROGRAM A total of 242 trial sessions are planned for 1974; included in this total are 52 small tax sessions for 1974. These planned sessions are consistent with our workload objectives. The increase in sessions over prior years has kept pace with the progressive increase in the number of cases being filed by the taxpayers. NEW LEASING ARRANGEMENTS FOR GOVERNMENT SPACE Mr. Chairman, before concluding I would like to speak briefly on a matter which is now before the court, as it is before all Government organizations which occupy Federal space, concerning Public Law 92-313, known as the Public Buildings Amendments of 1972, which provides among other things that the General Services Administration charge other Government organizations for space occupied in Federal buildings throughout the United States beginning fiscal year 1975. That same act provides that any executive agency also may charge another occupant of its space. No such provision, however, is included for either the judiciary or for the legislative branch and, since the Tax Court is a legislative court, the only way the act applies to the court is to provide that the court must pay and yet not be permitted to collect. Satisfactory answers to this dilemma have not yet been obtained. The Tax Court is vitally interested in this act since, as you are aware, the court presently enjoys the assignment of court facilities at 10 or 12 locations throughout the United States for which the court under this act will be required to come before Congress each year beginning with 1975 to request appropriated funds to reimburse General Services Administration. |