New-York tribune., 1920-07-21
Gleason Explains Fees
Republican Secretary Denies Re

Republican Secretary Denies Re-
ceiping Large Sums as Attorney
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The Tribune in its issue of yes
terday said:
Lafayette B. Gleason secretary Of
the Republican State Committee. holds
the position of Tax Appraiser the prize
plum in the State Comptrollcr's office
1t pays only. $4,000 year salary but
In special fees he receives annually at
least 100000. Last year Gleason's special
fees awarded him by the Comptroller.
amounted to about s3o0eOo
The position | hold is attorney repre-
senting the Comptroller in the collec
ton of the transfer (inheritance) tax
in and for the County of New York.
For the fiscal year ending June 80, 1920,
the amount of such tax coll ,:ed in the
County of New York was s11IO8 $50. SO
The total amount paid to all ATTORNEYS
in New York County, including myself.
all my assistants and others designated
in non resident cases, was s164.417O1.
or percentage for collecting such tax
of .O147
For the fiscal year ending June 30,
1919, the amount of tax collected was
$500, ,938.97, and the attorneys fees. as
aforesaid, were s1e5, 5,56S.43, percentage
of .0197. We collected greater trans
fer tax for the fiscal year 1920 than in
any other year in the history of the
state and at a percentage lower than
any year except 1913
Of the sl64,417.O1 paid for attorneys'
fees for the fiscal year just ended the
total payment to me was $142, ,S20S7,
out of which l paid the expenses of nv
office, as audited by the Department in
Albany, amounting to SLOT, ,793.45. These
expenses included the salaries of nvself
and nine assistant attorneys, the office
manager, box openers, investigators.
process servers, waiver clerks, fining
clerks, stenographers, and the rent
Of the $35,027.42 demaining, there
were paid the expenses of the Appeal
Bureau, including the printing of pa
pers, salaries of the attorneys conduct
ing the appeals, railroad fares and
re L. ~
appraisers of real estate or personal
property employed by the attorney for
the Comptroller during the fiscal wear.
and all other expenses. This sum also
included all special fees paid for the
tax proceedings in the estates of nom
residents.
1t represents the collection of the
largest amount of tax at the smallest
rate of expenditure of any department
in the United States. My office repre-
sented the Comptroller this year in
1905 motions and appeals on the CAL
endar in the Surrogates' Court; we ex-
amned and submitted for report sob
appraisals, in addition to the cases in
which tax exempt orders were entered
We filed 1S,o23 new cases, attended g.
293 hearings before the appraisers, is,
sued 43,261 waivers and attended 3,oO4
box openings. We argued seven appeals
before the Court of Appeals and nine
appeals before the Appellate Division,
in which we were uniformly successful.
The most important appeal was that
in the estate of Hetty Green, in which
we obtained favorable decision in the
Appellate Division and brought $685.
100000 of her property within the prov
ince of this tax and upon which a tax
of approximately s1,500,O0O will bet re-
covered, together with a penalty for
four years at 10 per cent a year, a