The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-07-07
$3.50 TAX ON
GREEN ESTATE
Bulk of the Inheritance Is
Exempt Under Laws of
Vermont
NEW YORK MAY TRY
TO GET $4,000, 900
VIII Expressly Stipulated That No In
ventory or Appraisal of the Estate
Should Be Required-Legal Resi-
dence Neglected.

BELLOWS FALLS, July 7. - A tax
of $3.50 is the extent of the fee
which Vermont may expect from the
estate of millions disposed of in the
will of Mrs Hetty Green, long known
as America s wealthiest woman, in the
opinion of state and local officials who
read the provisions of her will yester-
day.
The document, which was filed for
probate here after her burial, because
the mistress of finance maintained that
the old family home in this village
constituted her legal domicile, gave
practically the entire estate to her
son, Col. f. II. X. Green, and her
daughter, Mrs. Matthew Astor Wilks.
This fact made the bulk of the in
hcritance exempt, as there is no tax
IN this state on property willed from
parents to children. Mrs. Green 5 be
quests, totalling $4,000 to friends and
other relatives, however, are subject to
per cent tax, and from this source
the state will realize $3.50.
Although the will expressly stipu-
lated that no inventory or appraisal OF
the estate should be required, it was
said that the extent to which Mrs.
Green had developed her birthright
might be determined through an order
from the probate Judge. Such an order,
it was said, might be issued on re-
quest of any immediate relative or an
interested public official. but there was
no indication today that the state
tax commissioner, Charles Plumley of
Mortified, or any other official con
templated such a proceeding. 1t was
suggested that possible source of
such action might he an official of
New York state, where the inheritance
tax laws would exact considerable
sum from the estate if it were shown
to be within its jurisdiction.
In this connection, local officials
pointed out that Mrs. Green had
claimed this village, which is in the
rown of Rockingham, as her legal resi-
dence, during the most of the last
quarter century. ~ her domicile for
this purpose, she designated the old
Green homestead on Church street
The residence, of a type now obsolete
, has been allowed to fail into disre
pair. The bricks, covered with faded
yellow paint, are crumbing. The piaz
! "a framework is rakishlv tilted at one
end. The shutters are closed, but are
in effect open. on account of holes
| caused by fallen Stats.
1t was to this house that Mrs Green
came annually to establish her legal
residence. She caused the doors and
windows to he open during the two
or three weeks she remained in tho
town, but she did not eat or SLEEP
/ within its walls. Instead, she became
a guest of friends, or, as last year
stopped at a small hotel in a nearby
! town.
Each year the tax listers of Rock
| ingham placed a valuation of $4,000
| on the homestead, and also assessed ;
tax on 100000 of personal property
| Her average tax payment has beer
about $500 annually, minus dis
count of per cent for payment with
in 90 days. Mrs. Green, it was said b.
town officials, always mailed a checl
for the amount of the tax promptly
and so saved the allowance. Her re
lations with the town, they said, wer
never marked by any dispute owe
property valuations. The hearing OF
the will is to be held July %