271 N.W. 903 | S.D. | 1937
January 21, 1929, August J. W. Ja'hn died, intestate. The estate having been in process of administration for six years, during which time the administrator did not serve and file an inheritance tax report arid inventory, the director of taxation instituted proceeding in the county court for the purpose of
An inheritance tax is in the nature of an excise 01 privilege tax. It is not a tax upon property, but on the privilege of succeeding to- or inheriting the property of a deceased person. The nature of the tax has been fully considered in prior decisions of this court. In re McKennan’s Estate, 25 S. D. 369, 126 N. W. 611, 33 L. R. A. (N. S.) 606; Id., 27 S. D. 136, 130 N. W. 33, 33 L. R. A. (N. S.) 620, Ann. Cas. 1913D, 745. The valuation of the taxable interest and the fixing of the tax necessarily takes place subsequent to death, but, since inheritance taxes are imposed upon the succession rather than the property, the interest transferred is to be valued, unless the statute specifies otherwise, as of the date of the death of decedent, without regard to any subsequent increase 01-decrease in value. Ross on Inheritance Taxation § 259; Matter of Penfold’s Estate, 216 N. Y. 163, 110 N. E. 497, Ann. Cas. 1916A, 783; Hanberg v. Morgan, 263 Ill. 616, 105 N. E. 720; Hooper v. Bradford, 178 Mass. 95, 59 N. E. 678; State v. Pabst, 139 Wis. 561, 121 N. W. 351; In re Ferguson’s Estate, 113 Wash. 598, 194 P. 771, 13 A. L. R. 122; In re Hite’s Estate, 159 Cal. 392, 113 P. 1072, 32 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1167, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 1014; see also annotations in 13 A. L. R. 127 and 86 A. L. R. 1030. Since the value of the privilege depends- directly upon the value of the property transmitted, the fact that the amount of the tsx is determined by an appraisal of the property does not -transform the tax into a tax on property. Kingsbury v. Chapin, 196 Mass. 533, 82 N. E. 700, 13 Ann. Cas. 738.
If, as we have already stated, the tax is upon the right to receive, the value at the time of the devolution of the property, which is the death of transferor (In re Guider’s Estate, 63 S. D. 495, 260 N. W. 828), offers a proper basis for determination of the tax, and ¡we are convinced that the statutory provisions referred to contemplate that the appraisal be so made and the tax fixed according to the value of the property as of the date of decedent’s death and that the tax shall remain a lien on the property transferred until paid. The decisions of other courts construing similar laws support ■this conclusion. State v. Pabst, supra; In re Merrill’s Will, 212
The following language of section 6869, Rev. Code 1919, is emphasized by respondent administrator as sustaining his contention : “The words ‘true and full value in money’ and the word ‘value,’ when used in this chapter, shall be construed to mean the usual cash selling price at the place where the property to which the term is applied shall he at the time of determining its value.” This language, viewed in the light of its immediate context, lends support to contention of counsel that the time as of which the value of an estate is to be determined is the date of the appraisal. But such meaning is not consonant with the other provisions, of the act. The plain purpose of the inheritance tax law is. to impose a tax upon a transfer of the estate of a deceased person to another, and the statute construed in its entirety indicates an intention that the'value of the property at the time of death be used as the basis upon which to compute the tax. The inheritance tax statute used the expression “true and full value in money” and also the word “value,” In arriving at the “true and full value in money” under the definition in section 6869, the court must be guided by the usual cash selling price. The language in the statute relied upon has no application to fixing the time as of which the usual cash selling price is to be determined. It merely speaks of the time as of which the value of the property is to be determined and not the time when the proceedings are had in making -the appraisal.
The judgment and order appealed from are reversed.