Note 25 — AMENDMENT 16

Helvering v. National Grocery Co., 304 U.S. 282, 288-289 (1938). In Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391 (1938) the defendant contended the collection of 50% of any deficiency in addition to the deficiency alleged to have resulted from a fraudulent intent to evade the income tax amounted to the imposition of a criminal penalty. The Court, however, described the additional sum as a civil and not a criminal sanction, and one which could be constitutionally employed to safeguard the Government against loss of revenue. In contrast, the exaction upheld in Helvering v. National Grocery Co., though conceded to possess the attributes of a civil sanction, was declared to be sustainable as a tax.