The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-01-05
INHERITANCE TAX.
Representative A. w. Benson Has
One to Submit.
Weuld Have All Estates Con-
tribute to State.
TO FOLLOW OTHERS.
Such a Measure Already in Force
in 10 States.
Captain Seaton Talks on One of
His Hobbies.
TO FOLLOW OTHERS.


from Franklin county, has been put
ting in the last week in the state
library in Topeka drafting an inherit
ance tax law which will be presented
at the coming session of the legis-
lature. He believes that he will pre-
sent bill which will command the
united support of the legislature, and
which will bring into the state
treasury thousands of dollars year
in additional revenue.
An inheritance tax will be levied on
all property in the state of Kansas
which is bequeathed to, or inherited
by any institution. friend or distant
relative, and the size of the estate
will determine the rate of the tax
Property coming into the possession
of the immediate relatives of the de-
ceased will be required to pay
lighter tax, and valuations of less than
$4,000 will probably be exempt.
The law will make it the duty of
the probate court, at the time a will
is probated, or an administrator ap-
pointed, to see to it that the inherit
ance tax is collected, and the tax will
become a first lien upon the property.
1t makes no difference whether the
heirs or the original property owner
were or were not residents of the
state; if the property is in the state,
the state will claim an inheritance tax.
The converse of the proposition will
also be true; that residents whose
property is in some other state will
escape the inheritance tax, unless
similar tax exists in the state where
the property is located.
Representative Benson has been a
student of the inheritance tax question
for number of years. He has care
fully investigated the laws of all the
states, and finds that inheritance tax
laws are already in force in g states
of the Union. Kansas has no such
law He believes that Kansas has
reached that state of wealth that a
large number of good sized estates are
being inherited, and he thinks the
time has come for an inheritance tax
law.
By giving away his property before
his death, a man will escape the pro-
visions of the inheritance tax It is
believed that this provision will be
itself beneficial, by tending to prevent
the accumulation of immense sums in
the hands of any one property holder
Capt. A. c. Hilligoss of Labette
county, a farmer and stock raiser, has
come to Topeka to make a campaign
for election to the officer of sergeant
alarms of the senate. Captain Hill
goss was one of the legislative en-
years as county clerk of Chautauqua
county, and is a member of the Third
district congressional committee.
A. l.. Mosher, the Wichita man who
wrote to President Del Valentine of
the Kansas Day club abusing him for
putting ". 7. Vernon, the negro ora
tor, on the banquet programme, has
been located. It has been a good deal
of a mystery up to this time who Mr..
Moster might be. Supt. Chas. Luling
of the insurance department said to-
day: ct found out Mosher's identity.
He lives out in the suburbs of Wich-
ita, and is travelling man. He has
been there in Wichita about seven
years. He has never been in any way
identified with Republican politics
down there, and the records show
that he has never attended a Kansas
Day banquet haven't heard of any
body down there at Wichita that en-
dorsed his views in the case"
w. T. Vernon, president of Quin-
daro institute, was in Topeka yester-
day to see President Del Valentine
of the Kansas Day club. 'sI have
been getting it pretty lively of late
said President Vernon, "but Mr.. VAL |
entine has been standing between me |
and the missiles very bravely. I will |
be here to make my speech all right, |
unless something unforeseen hap |
pens."
st see that some of the newspapers
are telling how much money the state
will save by having the daily journal
published for the house and senate
said Capt. John Searon, OF AtchisOn,
in the Copeland hotel lobby yesterday.
II wish you'd say for me that the
publication of the house and senate
Journals is a fake and waste of
the committee on revision of
the journal ought to be abolished, and |
the house and senate ought to each |
read and approve its journal every
morning"
Mi h fn 10 FOL
the old-tiners in the legislature. 1t
has been John Seaton's favorite war
cry:
tain Seaton. "that if the journals are |
printed every day, there will be moth |
ing to do at the end of the session /
but to slap the daily journals into
book and bind them, and that the |
state will save a lot of money. Every |
man who knows the ropes in the leg |
islature knows this is not So This |
committee on revision is given the |
power to strike out whole pages of |
of legislation. Not only that, but it !
can interpolate and make legislation !
which was never enacted That's a |
fact because it has been done, and l
know all about it.
saTbis system of having the house |
Journal printed and then turned over
10 a committee for revision was origf- I
mated at the time of the legislative |
var. when Douglass was speaker. He
had an idea that it was the proper
way to do the thing, for some reason,
and the habit has clung to the legis- |
Iature ever since / have fought II on |
the floor of the house, but while
have made them read the journal for
a few days at a time they have drifted
back into the old rut again. The only
way to get this thing right is to nave
the journal of the preceding day read |
every morning and let the members |
make corrections right then and there.