The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-04
Letters to the Editor.
Inheritance Tax.

Editor The Advertiser.
 May l suggest that there Is note this morning entitled, That inheri- tance Tax .Again?' Quoting an ex- tract from the Chicago Journal. which yp you constr9e to mean that The Jour ernment has the right to take the en- tire estate of any person on the death of that person and prevent any DOT. t of It going to the heirs," you voice the apprehension that what the Ro- man or other despotisms may have done will not be taken as precedent in some conclusion that we are not yet ready to submit. to the theory that might makes right. 1 think that the. ory has never been applied in an inher-
 Some years ago. investigated to some extent, the history of laws of this character. At the time referred to, by the pendency of litigation involving the validity of the Illinois Inheritance Tax Law. Eminent counsel, including former President Harrison, were em- naRo to combat the enforcement of the tax against them. Judge Thos. A. Mo- ran of the Chicago bar led in the fight ture. heretofore untried in the Unit ad States, was its provision grading the tax so that inheritances of larger amount sI were taxed ,, at a higher rate at
 
 gacies going 10 collateral kin or higher rate than If passing to de- sociates radically attacked the power of the State to tax inheritances at all, and also denied the right of the Leg oven if the general power existed. The case was thoroughly argued in every aspect. The decision of the unlted states supreme court upneio naFftNuIQr one Justice (Mr. Brewery dissented. The opinion of the court (by Justice McKenna) reported in ITO U. S., D.. 2S3 lMagoun V. Illinois Trust and Savings Banlr) contains a comprehensive and instructive outline of various laws of this kind passed In Europe and in states states of our Union within the last to Roman laws of the same class. whi h, by the way, were not despotic, but less exactlng than some. that are Augustan law taxed large inheritances five per cent ad valorem, and exempted those of small or moderate amount. Roman Empire" Vol. 1. pp. 242-3. Also, Cyclopaedia Americana (1905) Title. 'Tnheritance Tax"
 Indeed, the Illinois law. ono of the highest court. Is probably the most exacting statute of the kind in exis- tencc. Like others, 1t exempts inher- llduCcS Oi nOutSI dlio6GlHCT. It taxes those that are subject at rates varying from one to six per cent ad valoreIn, according to the size of the
 ile" and the degree of relationship. No rate higher than ten per cent, un- der any circumstances, has been re- corded in any instance so far as the writer recalls Judging the future by the past, therefore, 1t is altogether un likely that there will ever assemble an~where a law-making body, that i'll employ it's undeniable power of tax ing inheritances so as "to take the entire estate of any person on the death of that person and, prevent 4ny portion of 1t going to the heirs"
 On the other hand, '' is quite proh- able that. as the exigencles of public governments will extend the opera tion of such moderate laws as those above indicated. Especially may -Ils be expected among the States where no such laws now exist. Their power over the subject has been clearly es- tablished. and the experience of other states would aid toward adjustment of details In enactment and in adminis- tration.
 May 2, 'O6.