Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-13
GUM SHOE MAN To
LAND TAX DODGERS
State Controller Nye Tired of
Chasing DeIinquentS at
Long Range
WARlNG is HIRED FOR THE JOB
Law Governing Inheritance Duty
Develops KnOtty Problems
for Courts to Solve
WARING IS HIRED FOR THE JOB

Tired of chasing the elusive inheri-
tance tax at long range, State Con
trolIer Nye has hired a legal sic tn to
investigate back taxes on inheritances.
He is Robert Waring of Sacramento,
whose Investigations during the past
two weeks resulted in the filing OF
seven petitions In the superior court
yesterday to compel legatees to show
cause why they should not pay the tax
as required by the state law.
Five legatees of the John ]. Charnock
estate had individual petitions filed
against them yesterday by County
Treasurer John Hunt. The petitions
are against Lillian Charnock Price,
Constance Ruth Drumm, Laura E.
Charnock, Matthew Snow Charnock
and George B. Charnock, all heirs to
the great wealth of John ]. Charnock,
the states exchequer.
sTOLL CASE UP
Petitions were also filed for the ap-
pearance of Verona Stoll to show cause
why she should not pay the inheritance
tax on O large estate left her by the
late Andrew Stoll, and an inheritance
tax is sought on the Bryson estate,
which has been formed into corpora
ton of the same name, controlling the
Bryson block and other property.
The movement Is new in this end of
the state and has nothing to do with
estates which are probated in the SUI
perior court in the regular way. War
ing Is seeking to compel payment of
the tax by persons who have had prop
erty decided to them by the owner
where the latter anticipated death and
sought to avoid the probate court.
1t Is alleged by the county treasurer
on behalf of the state that the property
left by John j.. Charnock to those
named in the petitions filed yesterday,
is liable to the inheritance tax in spite
of the deceased deciding his property to
his heirs previous to his death, so it is
claimed.
DEATH NOT ISSUE
It matters not to the state whether
the transfer of property is before or
after death, it comes under the inheri-
tance tax law, according to Waring,
and the Investigations now in progress
promise a wide and somewhat startling
scope.
The Andrew Stoll estate is said to
have been decided to Verona Stoll before
the latter's death, and on this ground
the county is seeking to collect the tax!
The Bryson estate escaped the tax, it
Is claimed, by the formation of cor
DOrdLlOn
that the property cannot dodge the tax
by this method.
1.-THE filing of the petitions" said
Waring yesterday, sis to set forth in
substance the inheritance tax law in
each county. 1t is a county treasurers
duty to begin such actions, and the
state controllers office has general su-
pervision of the work, the state CO.
operating with each county, as provided
at the last legislature.
NOT IMMUNE
Because there is no probate of in
heritances which are decided this does
not make them immune from the tax,
provided they were decided in anticipa-
ton Of the death of the owner. The tax
is applicable also where the deed does
not take effect until after the death of
the owner.
"There are many eyasions of the in
heritance tax, but in most cases the
deciding of property is done to avoid the
expense of admitting wills to probate.
Another method is the formation of
estate corporations where we have no
record of the stock assigned in them.
1.-THE law provides severe penalty
for the non-payment of the tax, and
where it has not been paid for three or
four years about half the estate is
taken by the state, 10 per cent a year
being added for delayed payments,
commencing eighteen months after the
death of the owner of an estate.
"The meaning of the statute requiring
payment of the tax is in contention at
present on the question of deeds made
in contemplation of death, and the SUI
preme court of the state has not yet
decided the issue. There has been
much conflict over the law and where
property has been decided to a corpora
tion instead of direct to the heirs the
question has been raised as to whether
the corporation is not liable to the
highest rate of the graded inheritance
tax. This point is also before the SUI
preme court and has not yet been de-