166 P. 990 | Utah | 1917
One Joshua Hone, a resident of Provo, Utah county, this state, died on the 5th day of October, 1915. It is agreed that said Hone died possessed of an estate of the gross value of $31,264.15; that the debts, taxes, funeral and other expenses to -be deducted from the gross value of the estate amounted to the sum of $2,309.97, and that the net value of the estate amounted to $28,954.18. The only question involved on this appeal is the amount of inheritance tax that may legally be assessed against said estate under Comp. Laws 1907, section 1220x, as amended by Laws Utah 1915, p. 153. That section reads as follows:
“All property within the jurisdiction of this state, and any interest therein, whether belonging to the inhabitants of this state or not, and whether tangible or intangible, which shall*93 pass by will or by the statutes of inheritance of this or any other state, or by deed, grant, bargain, sale, or gift, made in contemplation of the death of the grantor, vendor or donor, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after the death of the grantor, vendor, or donor,, to any person in trust or otherwise, shall be subject to the following tax, after the payment of all debts, for the use of the state: Three per cent, of its market value in excess of $10,000.00 and not exceeding $25,000.00, and five per cent, of its market value in excess of $25,000.00; and all administrators, executors, and trustees, and any such grantee under conveyance, and such donee under a gift made during the grantor’s or donor’s life, shall be respectively liable for all such taxes to be paid by them respectively, except as herein otherwise provided, with lawful interest as hereinafter set forth, until the same shall have been paid. The tax aforesaid shall be and remain a lien on such estate from the death of the decedent until paid. In determining the amount of tax to be paid under the provisions of this section, after the payment of all debts, the sum of $10,000.00 shall be deducted from the entire estate and the tax shall be computed and paid on the entire remainder; and the court shall determine the amount of tax to be paid by the several devisees, legatees, grantees, or donees of the decedent. ’ ’
The district court construed and applied the provisions of that section as follows: First, it deducted from the gross value of the estate, amounting to $31,264.15, the debts, taxes, funeral and other expenses as aforesaid, leaving a net value of $28,954.18. The court then deducted the $10,000.00 exemption provided by the statute which left an amount taxable under the statute of $18,954.18. That amount being less than $25,000.00, the court taxed the whole thereof at the rate of three per cent., which amounted to an inheritance tax of the sum of $568.62 against said estate. The district court, therefore, ordered that amount to be paid to the estate as an inheritance tax before making distribution thereof. The Attorney General, who appears for the state on this appeal, insists that the district court erred in its construction of the statute and in computing the inheritance tax due to the state from said estate, and that under the provisions of the statute the state
While the amount involved in this ease is not large, yet it will readily be seen that if the construction the court placed on the statute shall prevail, then, in the long run, the rights of the state may be affected to a considerable extent. The question, therefore, recurs, What, under the statute, is the correct amount upon which the three per cent, tax shall be assessed in the event the estate exceeds the $10,000 exempted by the statute? If that amount be once ascertained, there can be no escape from what follows. As the writer views the statute, that amount is so clearly fixed by it that no construction is either necessary or permissible. The controlling part of the statute provides that all estates—
“shall be subject to the following tax, after the payment of all debts, for the use of the state: Three per cent, of its [the estate’s] market value in excess of $10,000 and not exceeding $25,000.00, and five per cent, of its market value in excess of $25,000.00.” (Italics ours.)
Now, according to all known systems of notation, there is, there can be, but one possible number between the extremes named in the statute, namely, 10,000 and 25,000, and that number is 15,000. Therefore, if an estate exceeds the net value of $10,000, and reaches the precise amount or net value
It is contended, however, on the part of the estate that what follows later in the statute must also be considered in connection with what I have specially quoted, and that what follows determines the amount of the tax. The provision just alluded to reads as follows:
“In determining the amount of the tax to be paid under the provisions of this section, after the payment of all debts, the sum of $10,000.00 shall be deducted from the entire estate and the tax shall be computed and paid on the entire remainder ; and the court shall determine the amount of tax to be paid by the several devisees, legatees, grantees, or donees of the decedent.”
There is therefore no escape from the conclusion that the district court erred in taxing the entire value of the estate in question which is in excess of $10,000 at the rate of three per cent. The court should have assessed the value in excess of $10,000 and not exceeding $25,000, which is the sum of $15,000, at the rate of 3 per cent, and the remainder of the estate at the rate of five per cent. The judgment is therefore reversed, and the cause is remanded to the district court of Utah county, with directions to set aside its conclusions of law and order requiring the estate to pay to the state a tax of $568.62, and in lieu thereof to enter an order or judgment requiring the estate to pay to the state a tax of $647.70. The costs of this appeal to be paid out of the funds of the estate.