The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-11-13
Frederick + askin's Letter
When Money Comes Eas;ly

from a distant relative who ~.
stranger. This curious disinss,,.
ton TO part with any ones ~
nings from the chance hand ~ ~
tune is illustrated by the tale NJ y.
woman who sued to break 4 Nm
Shs had been disinherited W..
she expected q bequest and vent !.
court. She lost the case ana :
course. the sum she desired. -
Well" she said when the vsra,..
was rendered. AT least I voss
have 20 pay the inheritance 3,
have saved that"
The inheritance tax is leyie6 !.
net estates. that is, what rem.,s.
after the various deductions ~.
INVISIBLE under the tax lava =,
made. The estates listed in -.
period under review were brou,s.
down to a net figure Of $5,Ao7 "a
531 and the tax levied upon ths,
sum.
Deductions are of various chs.
acters. In the first place there /, !,
specific deduction of $50, 1000 for m
estates and no one who leaves h,
than that sum has his beQuests en-,
tailed by the tax.
For the period under review tAw,
were 5,643 such estates having !
gross value of s427, 47l,29O.
Many Deductions Allowed /,
The statutory deductions incluA.
charitable, public and similar be-.
quests. These took $264,49l.eS7
from the taxable total during Tia
F1916-1s22 period. The law provide,
that property recently inherited by
the decedent and (which, therefore
has recently paid an inheritance
tax. may be exempted. The amount
coming within this category was
$67 ,582,902. That great sum had
been inherited only recently and
held a relatively brief while. Many
stories doubtless are behind tia,
classification. What use did the
beneficiary make of his inherited
wealth during his brief period Of
prosperity? Was the good fortune
too much for him and was it the
cause Of his death? The reader
may exercise his Imagination at
will; the statistics reveal nothing.
Funeral expenses, debts unpaid at
the time of death, and the expenses
of the administration of estates
may be deducted from the net or
taxable estate. These deductions
in this period, reached a total Of
81, O33, 4O8,174. 1t is presumed a
large part of this billion was con-
sumed by the classification admin
istration expenses" To revert to
our parallel imaginative picture, the
lawyer always is a prominent hs-
ure in the will case and the wicked
/, guardian is not stranger. These
j gentry are well trained in finding
administrative expenses" In Tho
| shape of fees and charges. A BILL
lion dollars is a big bill but the
reader may be assured it is not all
for funeral expenses. The total Of
all these deductions reaches the
impressive aggregate Of 1916
9S2.764.
During this 1916-ls22 period
there we're some estates which
must have been equal to the treas
ure of the Count of Monte Cristo
Twenty-threes inheritances we're IN
class described as "sl0,0OO,000 and
over" How great are the sums the
short word lover" covers Is not re-
vealed, but some Of these estates
have been vast for tax OF s3,lOb,-
148 was paid On them. an average
| of more than $4,000 900 each. Inc
gross total of the % estates was
; 1865, 637 ,695-more than half oil
lion. -.
The millionaire class is suliieieni'
/ ly numerous 20 furnish plots for no
end of romantic stories OF wills ana
heirs. In the class listed as De.
queathing $750,000 to slOoo,oV'
were 3S2 decendents leaving prop
erty worth 1896, All SIG.