An individual’s petition to invalidate four Notices of Federal Tax Liens filed against him was dismissed for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. He petitioned the court to invalidate the liens based on a number of tax-protestor-type arguments including, inter alia, that there was no authority for filing the Notices against him under the Administrative Procedures Act, that no Executive Orders existed to establish internal revenue districts for the collection and enforcement of income taxes, the regulations used by the IRS for its assessment authority and its method of assessment were unenforceable because they aren’t published in the Federal Register, and the authorized assessment of taxes applies only to tobacco and distilled spirits and the liens were therefore invalid to the extent they were based on a non-alcohol or non-tobacco tax.

The court granted summary judgment in favor of the IRS because: (1) although a waiver of immunity exists for claims contesting a lien based on procedural irregularities, no such irregularities were alleged; (2) an action for damages based on IRS employee misconduct was inappropriate because the complaint sought invalidation of the liens; (3) the complaint challenged the IRS’s authority to collect taxes, an argument for which there was no legal basis; (4) the Anti-Injunction Act precluded the requested relief; and (5) the complaint failed to state a plausible claim because the allegations related entirely to unsubstantiated, frivolous legal contentions.