The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-06-21
Inheritance Tax.

In my judgment, however. the in
heritance tax Is both far better meth
cd of taxation and far more important
for the purpose / have in view-the
purpose of having the swollen fortunes
of the country bear in proportion to
their size a constantly increasing bur-
den of taxation. These fortunes exist
solely because OF the protection given
the owners by the public. They are
constant source OF care and anxiety
to the public and IL is eminently just
that they should be forced TO pay heav-
lily for the protection given them. 1t
is. OF course. elementary that the ma
ton has the absolute right to decide as
to the terms upon which any man
shall receive a bequest or devise from
another. We have repeatedly placed
such laws on our own statute books,
and they have repeatedly been declared
constitutional by the courts. / believe
that the tax should contain the pro-
gressive principle. Whatever any In
dividual receives, whether by gift, be-
quest, or devise, in life or in death,
should. after q certain amount Is
reached. be increasingly burdened; and
the rate of taxation should be in
creased in proportion TO the remote
ness OF blood OF the man receiving
from the man giving or devisins. The
principle OF this progressive taxation
Oh inHtTlldICt mas not only Deen du-
thoriatively recognized by the legisla-
ton of congress, but II is now un-
equivOcally adopted in the leading civ
ilized nations of the world-in, for i'm
stance. Great Britain. France and Ger
many. Switzerland led off with the
imposition OF high progressive rates.
Great Britain was the first of the great
nations to follow suit, and within the
last few years both France and Ger
army have adopted the principle In
Great Britain all estates worth $4,000
or less are practically exempt from
death duties, while the increase is
such that when an estate exceeds
SIS. 600, 900 in value and passes to a dis
tant kinsman or stranger in blood the
government receives nearly IS per
cent. In France. under the progressive
system. so much Of an inheritance as
exceeds S10.000,000 pays over 20 per
cent. to the state IL IL passes to a dis
tant relative, and hve per cent. IL 10
passes to a direct heir. In Germany
very small inheritance are exempt, but
the tax is so sharply progressive that
an Inheritance not In agricultural or
forest lands which exceeds $3.50. 900,
IL It goes to distant relatives. Is
taxed at the rate of about 20 per cent.
The German law is of special interest,
because IL makes the Inheritance tax
an imperial measure. while allotting
to the Individual states or the empire
a portion of the proceeds and permit
ting them to impose taxes In addition
to those imposed by the imperial gov
eminent. In the United States the ma
tional government has more than once
imposed inheritance taxes in addition
to those imposed by the states, and
in the last instance about one-half of
the states levied such taxes concur
rently with the national government,
making a combined maximum rate. in
some cases as high as rs per cent?
and, as a matter of fact several states
adopted inheritance tax laws for the
first time while the national law was
still in force and unrepealed. The
French law has one feature which is to
be heartily commended. The progress
sive principle is so applied that each
higher rate Is imposed only on the ex-
cess above the amount subject to
the next lower rate. This plain In
peculiarly adapted TO the working out
OF the theory OF using the Inherit
ance tax for the purpose of limiting
the size of Unbeatable fortunes. since
the progressive increase in the rates.
according to this mode, may be car
ried to its logical conclusion In q
maximum rate OF nearly 100 per
cent. for the amount in excess OF
a specified sum. without being con-
hscatory as 70 the rest of the Inherit
ance; for each increase in rate would
apply only to tho amount above a GER