80 Vt. 489 | Vt. | 1908
Alice Howard, domiciled at Hartford, this State, died about June 1, 1904, intestate. Administration was granted on her estate June 2, 1904. The final decree of distribution was made March 31, 1905, whereby the net residue of the estate after the payment of debts, etc., was decreed to collateral relatives, the same persons who were by the laws of this State the heirs at law of the decedent at the date of her death. Among the assets of the estate so distributed were proceeds of certain notes against persons residing, and secured by mortgage on real estate, without this State, which notes and mortgage were in her physical possession and held by her here at the túne of her decease. The administrator, before the final decree, collected the several sums due on the notes and brought the proceeds, amounting to $3705, into this State, where the same remained until distributed as a part of the assets under that decree. No claim is made that any tax was ever lawfully paid to any other state or government for or on account of any distributive share, or any portion of these assets. The question is, Are the collateral relatives taking such distributive shares of the proceeds of said notes subject to a collateral inheritance tax thereon, under the laws of this State? By Laws of 1904, No. 30, see. 1, every person and every society or institution, other than those there exempted, “that shall receive in trust or otherwise any legacy or distributive share comprised of or arising from property or any interest therein passing by will, the law of descent or the decree of a court in this State, from any deceased person who owned such property at the date of his decease shall, except as herein otherwise provided, be subject to a tax for the use of the State equal to five per cent, of the value in money of such legacy or distributive share.” By section 3, if a similar tax shall have been lawfully paid to another state or government, not the United States, for or on account of a legacy, distributive share, or any part thereof which should thereafter be decreed by a probate court of this State to a legatee or heir liable to the tax imposed by section one, such legatee or heir shall be liable to pay to this State only such part of the tax as would make the entire taxes both within and without the State based on such portion of a legacy or distributive share taxed in such other state or government equal to five per centum of the total value thereof to be determined by the provisions of that act.
By section 81, “The first seventy-nine sections of this act in so far as they shall pertain to a tax imposed by this act upon a person, corporation, society or institution that shall in any manner hereinbefore provided receive property or any interest therein passing from a deceased person, shall also apply to all persons who deceased prior to the enactment hereof but whose estates shall not have been at the date of such enactment decreed or distributed: provided, however, that if any part of an estate has been lawfully paid or decreed prior to the enactment hereof such part so paid or decreed shall not be affected by this act, * * it is contended by the administrator that in the clause “shall also apply to all persons who deceased prior to the enactment hereof,” etc., the word persons has reference to those who receive the property, not those from whom it passes. But with this construction we cannot agree. Under section six, any administrator, executor or trustee having in charge or in trust any legacy or distributive share passing to a legatee or heir liable to such tax, shall before paying or delivering the same to the legatee or heir deduct the tax therefrom, or collect it from him; section seven, in case the tax can not be thus deducted and the legatee or heir neglects or refuses to pay it, the probate court may license the administrator, executor, or trustee to sell any part or all of a legacy or distributive share for the payment of the tax; section eight, an administrator, executor, or trustee shall not deliver any specific legacy, etc., to any legatee or heir liable to the tax until the tax has been deducted or collected; ■section nine, any person having in charge or trust as administrator, executor, or trustee any legacy or distributive 'share so passing to a person, shall be liable for all such taxes imposed with lawful interest until the same have been fully paid. Thus the deduction or collection of the tax is by law made a prerequisite to paying a legacy or distributive share to any person entitled thereto; and should such person decease before receiving
On the other hand, if the word persons, like the word person previously used in the same line, has reference to deceased persons from whom the property or interest therein passes, as it would were it preceded by the word such (Y. S. 15), then the provisions of that section are consistent and intelligible: the law applies where the person died before the date of the passage of the act, if his estate had not then been decreed or distributed; but if any part of the estate had been lawfully paid or decreed to such part the law has no application. We think this is in accordance with the obvious intent of the Legislature and that the law should be so construed. It is a rule of construction too well established to require the'citation of authorities, that when the intention can be collected from the statute, words may be modified, altered, or supplied so as to avoid any absurdity, repugnance, or inconsistency which would otherwise exist.
It is further urged that the statute of 1896 still regulates the tax in estates in process of settlement when the law of 1904 was passed. The later act does not, except as otherwise provided, affect the liability of any person, etc., to pay the tax or taxes already accrued or accruing under the provisions of the
No other questions were presented in argument.
Judgment affirmed ivith costs to the State. To be certified to the probate court.