The Opelousas courier., 1895-09-07
Taxing Inherited Wealth.

civ bodoeIoh vi "CdtIh lldS DtGJ
pushed a great deal further in Eng.
land than with US. This is particularly
SO in the matter of succession duties,
and the recent extension of these UNI
der the finance act of 1894 marks a long
step in the direction of limiting indi-
vidua1 possessions. How serious an
inroad the new estate duty makes ID
the value of the property of which a
man may die possessed can be judged
from the amount Of ingenuity dis
played IN contriving methods to evade
it. Here is a sample case. A descend
ant has a million sterling to dispose Of.
Yielding an average return OF 3i5 per
cent, it brings in an income of G35,0 900
a year. The estate duty payable on
be under the new law $50, 900. or O
than two years income of the prop
erty. The problem is, how shall the
~testator transmit this property to his
heirs without subiecting it to the de-
duction of so enormous a tax? AS the
tax in question deals only with prop
erty, the passing of which is regulated
by the time of a death, the most obvi-
Gus way of evading it is to adopt a
method by which property shall never
pass on a death, but only on some
other event.
The law exempts from the estate duty
property held i'll trust under a DISPOSE
ton made by the deceased more thar
twelve months before his death. Sup
pose a millionaire of seventy has grand
children. He makes up his mind to
beat the estate duty. He can do this
onlv by divestirg himself, nominally
at least. of the control Of his property.
and SO he proceeds first to secure for
the rest of his life his presumed in
come of EDS. 600 a year. For the
sum of ego, 900 he can buy himself
a government annuity yielding that
mount. When this has been done his
million has shrnnk to G74O, 600, and the
annual income from it at the supposest
average of az per cent. becomes s1o--
eOO. But the settlers expectation Ct
life is still eight and a half years, ae-
cording to the accepted tables, n
this income need only be allowed to
accumulate at compound interest dur
ing this period 20 make it at the prob
able date of death amount to e246, 900,
or within g14, 900 of the mount paid
for the annuity. while the whole sum
would be exempt from the payment OF
estate duty.
This plan is proposed by a writer in
the Nineteenth Century"
That such a proposal should be seri.
ously discussed in a magazine of the
highest class suggests among other
things that wealth is trying to arm
itself in England against what it re-
CARDS as the spoliation of taxation. 1t
is not a new struggle by any means.
In feudal times the church presented
itself as the most available kind of
trustee for the man who found the
burdens becoming intolerable which
were laid on this land on the score OF
military service and what not. But
the church usually succeeded In alb
sorbinp the estate which, by it's aid,
had been freed from taxation or its
equivalent. Hence arose h long
STRUGGLE between the commons OF Eng
land and the ecclesiastics, and hence
the statutes aimed at the withdrawal
a vast proportion of wealth OF the
realm from the uses of society.-From
the y. Y. Journal of Commerce.
Scientific Taxation.
Mrs. cute-Now, if our income is
over a. 900 we have to pay the govern
ment. don't we?
Mr.. Cute (flling up blanks in his re-
turn)-Yep.
Mrs. Cute-Well, if we have less than
a. 600 does the government pay Us any
thing?
IWell, why not? If some are to pay
the government merely because they
have money, why should not the gov.
eminent pay those merly because it
has money?-ED.I
Con6scation by Taxation.
4 tax on the product of labor conhs'
Gates a portion of it; failure to pay the
tar coniscates the whole OF it.
ARE you satisfied with social institu-
t;onso If yes, pass IN. II no, DO you
wish to aid reforms? 1t no. pass on.
IF yes make up your mind that your
a;i will be little value unless You adj
vocate first of all and most persistently
the fundamental changes which ere
necessary. What are these? Decide
for rourself.-Common Sense, Brook.
Ign, n. !.