The Washington times., 1903-08-12
DEFECTS IN PERSONAL
SCHEDULE POINTED OUT
Washington AttOrneyTakes
Several Exceptions.
ACT OF CONGRESS DIFFERS
District Tax Appraisers Armed With
Instrument Which This Lawyer Says
OppTesses the Poor.

A Washington attorney, in a letter re-
ceived at the District Building today.
takes exception to the recently published
rulings of the Corporation Counsel. in
the matter of 'heirlooms" in so far as
they should be exempted on the personal
tax schedule. This attorney, who wishes
his name to be withheld for the present
declares that the printed blank sched-
ules put forth this year for the use of
the public under the personal tax law
seem TO be worse than last year.
1T is hard to imagine who is re-
sponsible for the legal opinions en-
bodied therein" says the attorney.
THUS. the schedule admits that the stat
ute exempts 'heirlooms,' but adds, The
term is strictly construed Strictly
construed by whom? 1t then condescend-
ingly explains that an heirloom is a
movable chattei which descends to the
heir with the land, as title deeds etc.
Would any sane person suppose that
title deeds would be taxed as personal
property. even without this exemption d?
The schedule then goes on to say: In
herited household furniture, pictures,
silver. tableware. etc. must not be ex-
empted as heirlooms'
The notes TO 'Sharswoods Edition Oh
Blackstone, which is a kind of primer of
the law. say: Where a testator gives
specific articles. intending them to de-
scend as heirlooms. it is the duty OF his
executor to see that such intention takes
effect This shows that chattels can be
made heirlooms by WILL The American
and English Encyclopedia Of Law, second
edition, just published, quotes an Eng
Hsh case in 1897 as deciding thus:
A Recent Definition.
There is a secondary sense in which
the term "heirlooms" is used; that is,
where chattels are settled by deed OF
will or otherwise, vesting them in
trustees upon trusts declared whereby
they are limited TO go along with cor
poreal or incorporeal hereditaments
This secondary sense is. speak
Ing generally. the sense in which the
term 'heirlooms" is employed popularly
and also by lawyers as a brief descrIp-
ton
Congress is presumed to use familiar
words in their generally accepted mean.
ing.
The schedule undertakes TO say thai
household and other belongings used in
any manner for profit or gain are not
exempt II afsO adds in q number OF
places that the value OF articles must be
returned without deductions for any
debts due for the same or any HabiIi-
ties whatever Neither OF these clauses
is in the act OF Congress. They seem tc
be manufactured out of the whole cloth
Tor the schedule
Hits the Poor Widow.
Congress taxed hotel companies and
the proprietors of hotels The schedule
garbles this by adding the words and
public boarding houses The schedule
apparently assumes legislative powers
and that for the purpose OF taxing sons
poor widow trying TO make a living BY
keeping a few boarders. In fact, the
general tendency OF the schedule seem!
TO be TO tax the poor severely and let OF
the rich. especially in the iniQuitous ruI
ing that where several families live il
one house (as the poor have to do) onI,
one person is entitled to any exemption
under the 81 900 clause.
The schedule is otherwise disingenu
Gus. 1t is headed in large black letters
Schedule OF all personal property an,
ii is only by reading some very small
type and puzzling cross references tha
one finds that IL is not to be a schedul
OF all personal property. but only .
what is taxable, exclusive of exemptions
Directions are Misleading.
Some have been misled by this ar
rangement OF the types into reporting al
personal property. supposing that tn
assessors deducted the exemptions. an
then have been denied all redress at tn
tax ONCE with the stereotyped answe!
The time for appeals has gone by
BY the way. was not one of the per
sonal tax appraisers found unfit 70
transfer to the position Of Auditor, be
cause he approved vouchers in favor Q
a company in which he held stock, etc.
II so, Is he not unfit to retain a place o
board OF such vast and inuuisitoria
powers as the personal tax appraisers?
In any case, let our citizens max
their returns honestly according to tn
law OF Congress. not according to tn
Bunsby opinions in this schedule"