The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-02-17
EASE OFF COLLECTION.


count of the ease with which it can be
| collected and that IS a strong argument
| in favor of anv tax. TIE machinery for
irs collection is already in existence. The
| wealth of the country is passing in a
| steady stream through the probate courts
and it is there that the law can put Its
| finger on the property and through the
| officers of that court secure its tribute.
| The Massachusetts Tax Commission in
it's report TO the General Assembly OF
| that State I'd. a2) called attention to the
| fact that "a tax on inheritances and sue
| cessions had the great advantage OF using
| administrative machinery already in eX-
| istence The probate courts already SUI
! pervisc the estates passing on death. BY
| making that examination somewhat more
| careful and stringent, an effective collec-
/ ton of the tax can be secured. This is
| so clear that all States, some fifteen
| or twenty in ALL who have enacted laws
| levying these taxes, have imposed on such
| courts the administration of such laws. "
/ Now while ] am not prepared to advo-
| cate an inheritance tax on the ground Id
| timated in several of the quotations |
| have made. for we are not concerned at
| present in considering it except as q
| proper revenue producing measure. still
| il is advocated as one of the remedies
| to regulate and solve possibly the great
| est social problem which will confront us
| in the near future. 1t is strongly urged
by a great number of the closest stu
| dents of the times that one of the most
| dangerous tendencies is the increasing
| aggregation of wealth in a few hands. It
| WAS only few years ago that there was
| introduced into the Legislature of one
! of the greatest States of the Union a
| bill 10 limit the amount any person might
! leave TO a single individual, and it was
| not a very long time ago that the com
1 mttee on law reform of the Illinois State
| Bar Association recommended that the
! statutes OF descent of property and of
| Wills be so changed as to limit the
/ amount that any one may take by de-
| scent from the same person or by bequest
| or devise except for educational and
| other charitable purposes" (P. 515 States
| and Cities.) This committee disavowed
| any intention of a departure from the
| settled policy of the law of this country
| uron the subject: on the contrary they
| insisted that their recommendations We're
| in harmony with the spirit of our insti-
| tutions and in the same line as the pres
/ en-; laws against perpetuities and entail
! ments, bur was only intended as a limi-
| tation to those abnormaly large fortunes
| which by being kept together, as they
! may be as the law now stands, menace
| the political power of the State. They
| argued that although the laws as they
/ now stand were sufficient in the days of
| slow accumulation. the times have
| changed and it is necessary for the laws
! also to change in order TO counteract the
| tendency TO mass the wealth OF the
country IN a few hands. There was no
| recommendation for such a limitation as
| would carry the estate away from the
kin Of the descendent the recommended
I ton was simply that no person could in
/ hert more than half a million dollars
| from one decedent. and they went on
| to say that there never was a time in
| the history of the world when the power
| of money in skilful hands was so great
| as the present or when the use of that
| power was made so conspicuous.
| The fact that one individual may mono
| police hundreds OF millions of the wealth
| of the nation and pass it at last by will
| TO another. with all its possibilities, is
/ a growing source of uneasness to
| all classes Of society.
| The most conservative jurists all over
| the country are agitating this serious
/ problem. 1t was not very long ago that
| Hon. John f. Dillon in an address be-
| fore the New York State Bar Association
| on "Property-Its Rights and Duties in
| our Legal and Social System" took the
| strongest possible ground in favor of
| laws which tend TO prevent the building
| up of large family estates, and that laws
| be rendered more favorable TO the wide
| diffusion of property among friends and
L III
| prejudced and most recent works on
the subjects of monopoles and trusts it
| is most forcibly urged that one of the
| most potent remedies for these evils is
| in the regulation of requests and inheri-
| tances by taxation and otherwise. in or
| der that in this way vast fortunes may
| gradually be broken up and wealth more
! widely diffused Thus, it is claimed may
| surplus value which has been accumulat-
ed by monopoly in part be absorbed ~
| society for social purposes, and will in
| part be widely scattered. At the present
| time N the States of New York and
| Illinois rs we'll as in some of the Swiss
| Cantons and the Australasian provinces
| great estates inherited by distant rela-
| tiyes or strangers in blood are taxed as
| high as 90 per cent.
| II seems to me we have sufficiently
/ considered this tax in it's broad and gen
| eral application and should consider it in
| its practical application to North Caro-
| lima. Every one who has given the mat
| ter thought recognizes the fact that one
of the great defects in on rtax system
| is that an immense amount Of personal
| property is never placed on the tax lists.
/ Any law which can do anything towards
| accomplishing this is desirable. The able
| Tax Commission of the State of Wisconsin
| in making its report Up. 12l declared
| that they recommended an inheritance
| lax as a partial substitute which as a tax
burden, would rest without shifting, upon
intangible property not reached under
present methods, more than upon any
| other property. 1t would thus supplement
the present system in the very feature
wherein ii is most inefficient. And they
sum up their recommendations by say
| ing D. 1909 I'VE have decided to sug-
gest that there are other ways in which
| the present defective methods of reach
| ing personal property may be supple
| mented. One of these methods is the in
| crease of taxes on certain kinds of cor
| porations and the other is by the inau-
| guration of system OF taxing legacies
| enc If State