The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-11-30
NEW YORK TAX ON CERTAIN
 STOCK TR.A NSFERS.


 Tn answer to the following letter to the editor of the Hartford Times, Are the stocks of any railroad owned by a citizen of Connecticut at the time of his death, when transferred in New York by his executor or trustee, subject to a tax of per cent?" the Times responds as follows:
 stocks of New York corporations, transferred on their books, by execu- tors, administrators or trustees, are subject to a tax of per cent. For in- stance, if resident of Connecticut owns at his death 100 shares of New York Central, and his executor trans fers the same, the property must pay to | the state of New York a tax of per cent. of the market value. We under stand that the question has been raised whether this law applies to the trans | fer of stocks of corporations outside of New York, which may have offices in New York where the stock Is transfer red. It is understood that the law would not reach the stocks of such cor
 porations.
 The law of New York went into effect April 10. 1897, and provides as follows: | A tax shall be and is hereby imposed upon the transfer of any property, real or personal, of the value of five hundred | dollars or over, or of any interest there in, or income therefrom, in trust or otherwise, to persons or corporations not exempt by law from taxation on real or personal property in the follow ing cases:
 1. When the transfer Is by will or by the intestate laws of this state from any person dying, seized or possessed of the property while resident of this state.
 9 When the transfer is by will or in- testate law, of property within the state, and the decedent was non-resi- dent of the state at the time of his death.
 l g. When the transfer is of property | made by resident or by anon-resident, when such nonresident's property is within the state, by deed, grant, bar I gain, sale or gift, made in contempla- ton of the death of the grantor, vendor
 or donor, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after | such death.
 | Succeeding sections of the law provide that the tax shall be per cent. on the "clear market value" of the property, | and that every such tax shall be and remain lien upon the property trans ferred until paid and the person to
 whom the property Is so transferred
 and the administrators and executors and trustees of every estate so trans l ferred, shall be personally liable for such tax until it's payment" The tax Is liable to the treasurer or comptroller of the county of the surrogate having ju- risdiction, and the surrogate may ap- point appraisers to determine the value | of the property
 This tax on the transfer of New York stocks, 5 per cent, when coupled with the succession tax which is imposed in Connecticut under the act of June 1, | 1897 Con all estates over ten thousand l dollars) makes double taxation, which l is not only very burdensome, but un- l reasonable and unjust.
 1 Under the laws of the two states, if a person in Connecticut dies, leaving as part of his estate s1e0,000 in New York Central stock, it would be sub- l JeCI, III lue uTSL pldCe, to llle ANeW IoIh transfer tax of per cent, or $5,0O0, for the transfer of the stock by the execu- tor, or administrator. Then Connecti-
 cut will take it's grab, and the stock would pay to this state, Succession" tax of one-haf of per cent. Cor $500) if l 1t passed to the parents, husband of wife, lineal descendants or legally adopted child. If the stock passed to collateral kindred, or to strangers to
 the blood, or to corporations or socie-
 ties, say of a religious or a charitable l character, it would pay to the state a | tax of 3 per cent. In the one case, then, the tax would aggregate 51a per cent. in | the two states, and in the other case, 8 per cent The New York tax is a
 transfer" tax, and the other 'suc-
 cession" tax, but both are nothing but | grabs, unjust and wrong.
 1 It is rumored that wealthy Hart l ford gentleman, who died since the New York transfer tax law was passed, | saved his holdings of New York stocks | from it's operation by transferring them to a granddaughter shortly after he heard of the New York law'