, 1924-07-16
INCREASE NWYOMING TAXES FORCES
COE TO CHANGE RESIDENCE TO N. Y.
Continued from Page y

this appeal, Mr.. Coe has written so
strong and valuable a letter involving
issues connected with the welfare of
the State, that the Bishop wired him
asking him if he would be willing to
release the letter for publication. This
he has done. The letter is as follows:
ct. Rev. N. S. Thomas,
Laramie, Wyoming.
Ny Dear Bishop:
must apologize for the delay in
replying to your letter concerning the
fund that is being raised for the Ca
thedral Home for Children. 1 wished
to give it mature thought on account
of the new situation that has arisen as
regards my status in Wyoming.
You say: "The only man in the
state that could possibly, even if
he were so minded, give so great
sum, etc." is myself.
l am afraid you are starting on an
incorrect hypothesis. Since January
1st my wife and 1 have been obliged
to abandon Wyoming as our legal re-
sidence and we are now residents of
New York State. 1t was with much
regret that we took this step, but the
action of the Wyoming Legislature in
raising the Inheritence Tax rate from
two per cent to eight per cent left us
NO other course, if we were to protect
our interests.
was advised by my counsel that as
we maintained n residence in New
York and spent a portion of our time
here each year our estates would have
10 pay the New York State Inherit
ance Tax of A per cent in addition to
the Wyoming tax. Until recently the
maximum Federal Inheritance was 25
Per cent, and Congress has just raised
It to 40 per cent. Between the Fed
r government and the States, taxa
lion is lastly reaching the point of
eonfscation and will ultimately drive
. lot of capital out Of the United
States. l would not have objected to
an Inheritance Tax in Wyoming of 2
Per cent, but l think you can readily
see how ! feel on the present rate of
8 per cent, which is "the straw that
broke the camel's back"
Personally, l think the action of the
Wyoming Legislature was very fool
ish in passing such a piece of class
legislation designed to penalize the
very few people who could be of the
most help to the State. No n could
have taken exception to the 2 per cent
tax and it would ultimately have been
n source of considerable revenue to
the State. / know Of no better way
of driving out capital which is badly
needed for the development of the
State than through such legislation.
As it may be of interest to you l am
enclosing n pamphlet | recently re-
ceived or inheritance taxation, which
was written before the recent raise
in The Federal Tax.
] do not think the average person
realizes that the collection of heavy
Inheritance Taxes is simply the TAX
ing of capital out Of commercial en-
terprises for public expenditure. In
raising the money to pay the Inherit
ance Taxes it is often necessary for
estates to sacrifice securities or prop
erty or withdraw money from a bust
ness, thus working a great hardship
on others interested in the same en-
terprise.
As you know we have given liber-
ally to Wyoming charities and did our
full share in helping put the Liberty
Bond and War Charity Drives cover
the top" ] have poured into the state
an enormous sum in %endeavoring to
build up Park County. | believe /
am one of the largest, II not the larg-
est individual taxpayer in that Coun-
ty. Our change of residence has put
n different prospective on our activi-
ties in Wyoming and we have not the
same incentive in that direction we
formerly had. 1t is still our intention
to occasionally spend some of our
time there in the summer.
Many politicians apparently thinl;
because they put through a tax mea-
sure providing for taxes between Fed
eral and State up to say so per cent
OF ones income, and Inheritance tax
e. on onc's tate which between Fod-
eral and State taxes may reach GO per
cont lnt &c win assure their rc-olec-
ton, This is simply an uttompt Go
fool the people. The.e high tascs, go
fer fire income tax g. concerned.
leave open an invitation for people OF