The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-25
NO DESIRE TO PUT
CLOUD ON TITLES
Statement by Controller Nye in
Reference to Collecting the
Inheritance Tax
Care to Be Exercised in Future
Against Under Appraise-
ment of Estates

! In collecting the inheritance tax
do not believe in unnecessarily putting
clouds on titles to real estate" said
I'VE are looking carefully into the col
lection of the inheritance tax through
out the state and in future we shall see
to it that there is no under appraise-
ment, but when the court has fixed the
tax, it has been paid and the property
distributed, we shall probably not re-
open the cases. In the event of our
discovering fraud however, we prob
ably would reopen proceedings"
This statement by Nye will undoubt-
edly carry relief to many who have
been alarmed by announcements to the
effect that the state intended to test
all transfers.
City Treasurer John E. McDougald is
still on the trail of estates which have
not paid the inheritance tax. His spe-
cial attorneys, Hartley Peart and r. ].
| White, have already filed 40 cases and
will file approximately 100 more in the
next few days. The collections in this
city and county for the last half of 1908
were $293,917.29. and for the first half
of this year s156.697.65. Very little eff
fort was made to force payment of the
inheritance tax before McDougald took
| office. So many eases of this nature
are now being taken into court that
McDougald favors setting aside one de-
partment of the superior court for the
purpose of hearing only inheritance tax
cases.
CARE TAKEN HERE
80 far as we are concerned in San
| Francisco" said Peart yesterday I'VE
are thoroughly in accord with the work
the state controller has undertaken
This county leads ire the matter of care
and exactitude. The system is the most
comprehensive in the state in covering
the claims of the state for inheritance
! tax.
In fling petitions for the collection
of the tax in cases of transfer by deeds
made in anticipation of death we neces-
sarily include many cases in which the
value Of the property proves to be less
than the exemption to which the
! grantee is entitled. This, however, is
of benefit TO the owner in that he Sc
cures the judgment of the court that
his land is not subject to any lien and
! seems to be the only possible mode for
arriving at this determination.
Our search of the records thus far
has developed several instances of
| transfers of considerable value, notably
one case of property admitted to be
worth in excess of 100000. The I'M
portant matter now under considera-
tion is the sufficienoy of the procedure
as provided by the act in the cases of
| transfers. No case has developed as
yet in which this can be tested and we
are now proceeding under a very con-
sentative construction of the act itself
and the opinion of the attorney general.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
TT 4.
that the statute of limitations does not
| run as against the state. Our search
! of the records has been complete and
| thorough, commencing with the admin
/ istration of the present treasurer AS
soon as all the cases discoverable since
] that date have been disposed OF, atten-
/ ton will be given at once to records
as far back as they are extant and since
the collateral inheritance tax of 1898
| became effective"
ONE RESULT of INQUIRY
As a result of the activities of the
controller and county treasurers the
| title insurance companies are now re-
| curing satisfactory evidence to be pro-
duced of the. payment of the tax in all
cases of transfer of the kind designated
! in the act.
Some large estates have yielded in
heritance taxes in this city. In the
! estate of r. r. Thompson, valued at
| S3,295. 30S.31, the Inheritance tax was
| $95,3S425. In the estate of the WI
dow, Harriet Thompson. appraised at
81, sos, 90S.S5. the tax was $32,762.64. The
Bertha M. Dolbeer estate, valued at
| SS76, 098.51, paid a tax of S51, 624.23.
|
COLLISION BETWEEN CARs-while Eddy
street 1852 being switched from Mar
ket steer to Eddy about 1880 o'clock yesterday
afternoon the conductor dropped the switch too
soon and the rear end of the car turned IN
Market street Just then Market street car 1913
came along and bumped into the rear part of
the other ear. jarring the passengers and