Court Opinion

ID: 9545304
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:09:53.875108+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:14:31.493343
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Justice,
dissenting.
I am in agreement with the reasoning of those decisions holding that the direction to pay taxes on a specific legacy out of the residuary is not a further gift or legacy, itself taxable, and therefore dissent from the majority opinion.
I must begin by observing that there is nothing in Mr. Morrison’s will which in any way evidences the testator’s intent to confer, in effect, two legacies on the legatees of M-K shares. There is no indication he intended one legacy of shares and one legacy out of the residuary to pay taxes on the transfer of those shares. Yet, this is clearly the result the majority opinion would impress on the will. That result, in my opinion, is at war with the plain words and import of the will. I would echo the incredulity of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court when In re Loeb’s Estate, 400 Pa. 368, 162 A.2d 207 (1960), that Court rejected the interpretation adopted by the majority here:
“The Commonwealth will seek in vain any language in the will that the testatrix intended to give to her legatees not the pecuniary legacy she clearly stated, but that amount plus an additional legacy in an amount unknown to her, but which is equal to the inheritance tax on the legacy which tax she clearly and specifically said should be paid out of the principal of the residuary trust.” In re Loeb’s Estate, 162 A.2d at 211.
Of course, if our statute requires this result, then the testator’s contrary intent must give way. In re Glessner’s Estate, 146 W.Va. 282, 118 S.E.2d 873, 877 (1961).
In examining the statute to find whether it is consonant with the view urged by the State and accepted by the majority opinion we note that its effect is to increase the tax bite which the State takes out of the total estate and that is not a neutral accounting device insofar as it affects the State’s total revenue from this estate. In addition, the algebraic formula adopted by the Court in this case to compute the tax is one, the complexity of which ought to be suggested from the statute itself rather than be constructed from the judicial imagination. The conclusion that payment of the taxes on specific legacies is a further legacy depends on the majority’s gratuitous observation that otherwise the payment to the state by the administrator would not discharge the tax obligations of the specific legatees. That observation is unsound both as a matter of general law and under our *775inheritance statute in particular. In simplest terms, the majority’s argument is that a debt owed by A to B cannot be discharged by full payment thereof by C, even when A consents and B accepts the money. The law, however, is no stranger to the proposition that this transaction does in fact result in the discharge of A’s debt. 6 C. Corbin, Contracts § 1285 (1951); Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 150, Comment a, Illustration 1 (Tentative Drafts 1-7, November 21,1972); 15 S. Williston, Contracts §§ 1857-61 (3d ed. 1972). The same is true of I.C. § 14-413. This statute expressly directs the administrator to pay those amounts due on the inheritances even though the obligation belongs neither to the estate whom the administrator represents nor the administrator personally, rather, and I doubt anyone would challenge this, the tax obligation is one that is laid upon the legatees for the privilege of receiving property from the decedent. I might add that the administrator is not the agent of the legatees. No one questions, moreover, that when the administrator pays the taxes that the legatees’ obligation under law is extinguished. It needs to be emphasized that the administrator’s actions in collecting money with which to pay the debt does not itself discharge the obligation, that is accomplished only by the final payment over to the state, a lesson the legatees would sadly learn if the administrator were to abscond with funds he had collected for the payment of the inheritances taxes. Under this statute, therefore, the actions of a third party do in fact discharge the legatees’ tax obligation. The majority’s ultimate conclusion depends upon a misconception, and has the unusual consequence of granting to the state even more in tax revenues than would be the case if taxes paid out of the residuary had been included in the legacies. My doubt about the majority’s result is confirmed by its interesting formula. Search as one may in I.C. § 14-413,1 that formula is not found in its words nor can it fairly be inferred from its general thrust. In this situation, I suggest the relevancy of the words of Justice Holmes in Edwards v. Slocum, 264 U.S. 61, 63, 44 S.Ct. 293, 68 L.Ed. 564 (1924), “Algebraic formulae are not lightly to be imputed to legislators.” If our legislators had intended the use of the above formula, they would have spoken more clearly and the majority would not need to invent new legislation.2
DONALDSON, J., concurs.

. “14-413. Deduction of tax from legacy.— Sale of property for payment of tax. — 1. Any administrator, executor, or trustee having in charge or trust any legacy or property for distribution, subject to the said tax, shall deduct the tax therefrom, or if the legacy or property be not money he shall-collect the tax thereon, upon the market value thereof, from the legatee or person entitled to such property, and he shall not deliver, or be compelled to deliver, any specific legacy or property subject to tax to any person until he shall have collected the tax thereon; and whenever any such legacy shall be charged upon or payable out of real estate, the executor, administrator, or trustee shall collect said tax from the distributee thereof, and the same shall remain a charge on such real estate until paid; if, however, such legacy be given in money to any person for a limited period, the executor, administrator, or trustee shall retain the tax upon the whole amount; but if it be not in money he shall make application to the state tax commission to make an apportionment, if the case require it, of the sum to be paid into his hands by such legatees, and for such further order relative thereto as the case may require.
“2. All executors, administrators, and trustees shall have full power to sell so much of the property of the decedent as will enable them to pay said tax, in the same manner as they may be enabled by law to do for the payment of debts of the estate, and the amount of said tax shall be paid as hereinafter directed.
“3. Every sum of money retained by an executor, administrator, or trustee, or paid into his hands, for any tax on property, shall be paid by him, within thirty (30) days thereafter, to the state tax commission.”

. Heretofore, seven states have followed the view of the majority in this case, while two states are in accord with my views. Annot., 69 A.L.R.3d 122, § 44.