INHERITANCE TAXATlON

Authors

Abstract

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Frick v. Pennsylvania, (June 1925) Adv. Ops. 122, 123, 124, 125, is of vital importance in the field of inheritance taxation. The facts as far as material to the present discussion are these: one Henry C. Frick, domiciled in Pennsylvania, died testate in 1919 leaving a large estate, consisting, among other things, of certain tangible personalty permanently located in New York and other tangible personalty located in Massachusetts and stock in various corporations chartered by states other than Pennsylvania. This property was all included in the clear value of the estate upon which the Pennsylvania inheritance tax was computed and no deductions were allowed on the stock transfer taxes paid to other states. The tax based upon this computation was upheld by the state supreme court in 277 Pa. 242. From this decision a writ of error was taken to the United States Supreme Court, which held, that "the Pennsylvania statute, in so far as it attempts to tax the transfer of tangible personalty having an actual situs in other states contravenes the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is invalid." As to the stock in foreign corporations it was held, that only the value of the stock after deducting the taxes paid to the states chartering the corporations could be used in computing the clear value of the estate for the purposes of the Pennsylvania tax, Pennsylvania's jurisdiction over ·the stock necessarily being subordinate to that of the states which created the corporations.

Recommended Citation

INHERITANCE TAXATlON, 24 Mich. L. Rev. 50 (1925).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol24/iss1/7