The IRS wants to seize more than $2 million from an elderly woman, whose family fled from Nazi Germany, for failing to report her father's endowment to her. Now, she's petitioning the Supreme Court to consider whether this is an unconstitutionally excessive fine.
The Institute for Justice, representing Monica Toth, an 82-year-old grandmother living in the Boston area, filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Friday asking them to determine whether federal "civil penalties" imposed by the federal government for violating regulations count as "fines." While a reasonable person might assume "penalties" and "fines" are the same thing, the federal government's position is that they are not, and, therefore, the IRS can demand millions in such penalties from people without triggering the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.
