The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-11

adopted in the leading civilized nations of the world-in, for instance, Great Britain, France, and Germany Switzerland led off with the impression of high progress sve rates. Great Britain was the first of the great nations to follow suit and within the last few years both France and Germany have adopted the principle. In Great Britain all estates worth five thous- and dollars or less are practically eX- empt from death duties, while the in- crease is such that when an estate ex- ceeds five millions of dollars in value and passes to a distant kindsman or stranger in blood the government receives nearly 1 Sper cent.
 In France.
 In France, under the progressive sys- tem so much of an inrehitance as ex- ceeds ten millions of dollars pays over 20 per cent to the state if 1t passes to a distant relative, and per cent if it pasess to direct heir. In Germany very small inheritances are exempt, but the tax is so sharply progressive that an inheri- tance not in agricultural or forest lands which exceeds two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, if it goes to distant relatives, is taxed at the rate of about 25 per cent The German law is of special interest, because it makes the inheritance tax an imperial measure, while allotting to the individual states of the empire d
  them to impose taxes in addition to those imposed by the imperial government. In the United States the national govern ment has more than once imposed inherl- tance taxes in addition to those imposed by the states, and in the last instance about one-half of the states levied such taxes concurently with the national gov ernment, making a combined maximum rate, in some cases as high as 25 per cent; and, as a matter of fact, several states adopted inheritance tax laws for the first time while the national alw was still in force and unrepealed The French law has one feature which is to be hearti- ly commended The progressive principle is SC. applied that each higher rate is imposed only on the excess above the amount subject to the next lower rate.
 Limit lnheritabIe Fortunes.
 This plan is peculiarly adapted to the working out of the theory of using the inheritance tax for the purpose of limit ing the size of inheritabe fortunes, since the progressive increase In the rates, ac- cording to this mode, may be carried to it's logical conclusion in q maximum rate of nearly 100 per cent for the amount in excess of a specified sum, without being confiscatory as to the rest of the inherit ance; for each increase in rate would ap- ply only to the amount above certain maximum. l do not believe that any comes elJneT 10 the country as a whole of to the individuals inherit- ing the money by permitting the trans mission in their entirety or such enormous fortunes as have been accumulated in America. The tax could be made to bear more heavily upon persons residing out of the country than upon those residing within it. Such d heavy progressive tax Is of course in no shape or way a tax on thrift of industry, for thrift and industry have ceased to possess any measurable importance in the acquisition of the swol- len fortunes of which l speak long be- fore the tax would in any way seriously affect them. Such tax would be one of the methods by which we should try to preserve measurable equality of oppor- tunty for the people of the generation growing to manhood. AS Lincoln pointed out, there are some respects in which men are obviously not equal but thero is no reason why there should not be an equality of self-respect and of mutual re- spect, an equality of rights before the law, and at least an approximate equal ity in the conditions under winch each man obtains the chance to show the stuff that is in him when compared with his fellows