Enochs v. State ex rel. Roberson

• Decision Date: 08 October 1923
• Docket Number: 23312
• Citation: 133 Miss. 107,97 So. 534
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: ENOCHS et al. v. STATE ex rel. ROBERSON, Attorney General

97 So. 534

133 Miss. 107

ENOCHS et al. v. STATE ex rel. ROBERSON, Attorney General

No. 23312

Supreme Court of Mississippi

October 8, 1923

(In Banc.) January 1, 1920

1 TAXATION. "Inheritance tax" not a "tax on property, " but on its transmission from the dead to the living.

An inheritance tax is not a tax on property, but on the transmission of property from the dead to the living.

2 TAXATION. Receipt of money admittedly due by administrators not conclusive of amount of inheritance tax.

Where the state tax commission has made no assessment of the property of a decedent under the provisions of chapter 109 Laws of 1918, the receipt by the state tax commission from the administrators of money admitted by the administrators to be due the state as taxes on the decedent's estate is not conclusive of the amount of the tax that is in fact due thereon.

3 TAXATION. Legislature may provide for ascertainment of inheritance tax by court in proceedings to collect it.

The ascertainment of the value of a decedent's property for the purpose of determining the amount of an inheritance tax due thereon is not technically an assessment of the property consequently it is within the power of the Legislature to provide for the ascertainment of the value thereof by a court in a proceeding to collect an inheritance tax due thereon.

4. TAXATION. Statute authorizing court of equity to compel discovery to determine amount of inheritance tax held valid.

A statute conferring upon a court of equity the power to compel a discovery of the amount and value of a decedent's estate by the executor or administrator for use by an administrative board in determining the amount of an inheritance tax due thereon is valid.

5. STATUTES. Provision in statute that invalidity of portion thereof will not affect remainder will be observed by courts.

A provision in a statute that the invalidity of any portion of it will not affect the remainder thereof will be observed by the courts when called on to enforce the statute.

6. TAXATION. The effect of statutory provision as to determination of amount of inheritance tax construed.

The provision in section 2, chapter 109, Laws of 1918, which requires that in valuing a decedent's estate for the purpose of determining the amount of the inheritance tax due thereon there shall be included therein all gains made during the settlement of the estate in reducing the intangible property to possession does not make the tax to that extent one on property, and therefore governed by the provisions of section 112 of the state Constitution of 1890.

7. TAXATION. Requirement of Constitution as to assessment and collection of taxes inapplicable to privilege taxes.

The implied requirement of section 135 of the state Constitution of 1890, that taxes shall be assessed by the assessor and collected by the sheriff, has no application to privilege taxes, but only to such as can only be fixed by an assessment of, and is primarily a charge against, property.

8. CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. Taxation. Classification of property subject to inheritance tax by decedent's residence constitutional.

The classification of property subject to an inheritance tax by the residence of the decedent does not violate the privileges and immunities provision of article 4 of the federal Constitution nor deprive any person of property without due process of law, nor deny to any person the equal protection of the law.

APPEAL from chancery court of Hinds county, HON. NILES MOSELEY, Special Chancellor.

BY THE COURT.

Suit by the state, on the relation of Frank Roberson, attorney-general, against Martha C. Enochs and others, administrators of the estate of I. C. Enochs, deceased. From a decree overruling a demurrer to the bill, defendants appeal. Affirmed and remanded.

The bill charges that the said executors submitted to the tax commission of the state a statement purporting to give a true and correct statement of the assets and the property of said I. C. Enochs, deceased, but that the tax commission was informed and believed said statement was incorrect in divers and sundry particulars, and especially in that the said estate was valued at only a total of five hundred seventy-seven thousand dollars, whereas in truth and in fact the complainant was informed and believed, and so charged, that the said estate was of value between two million five hundred thousand dollars and three million dollars.

The bill further charges in substance that the tax commission was convinced that the statement contained a gross undervaluation of the estate, and, acting under the law, proceeded to summon one of the defendants to come before the appraiser appointed by the commission, and give testimony on oath as to the true value of the said estate, whereupon the defendant declined and refused to appear and give testimony as ordered so to do under the authority of the said inheritance tax law; that the tax commission, being unable to procure said testimony in the manner provided by law, deemed it necessary and proceeded to file this bill for discovery, and ordered the attorney-general to so proceed, in order to discover the true amount and value of said estate; and the value of said estate is totally unknown to the complainant, and, being unable to secure the information from the defendants, in whom it alone reposes, as to the value of the said estate, discovery is prayed so that the true amount due as an inheritance tax may be ascertained by the tax commission.

It is charged that the defendants are due inheritance taxes to the state of Mississippi, but the exact amount of which is unknown to complainant, because he does not know the exact value of the said estate. The bill prays that process issue to the defendants, asks for specific discovery, and that on final hearing a personal judgment be given against defendants for the inheritance taxes due the state upon the said estate of the deceased, I. C. Enochs.

BY THE REPORTER:

This case came up on a demurrer to the original bill, the pertinent portions of which bill are here inserted to insure a more complete understanding of the case.

After setting forth the names of the parties and other formalities the bill alleges that:

"1. The said executors, under the laws of the state of Mississippi, were under the legal duty of submitting to the state tax commission, and of filing with the state tax commission, an inventory under oath, showing and disclosing all of the properties of said estate, real, personal, and mixed, and the full and fair cash value of the estate; also the names addresses of all persons known to be interested in such estate as beneficiaries thereof; and also within one year thereafter to file a further statement under oath showing the gain or loss in the value of such estate during the settlement thereof, the amounts paid out from such estate for various expenses, etc., and that said executors were under duty to pay to the said state tax commission all of the inheritance taxes imposed by chapter 109, Mississippi Laws of 1918, as amended by chapter 130 of the Laws of Mississippi of 1922.

"2. The said executors did undertake to file with the state tax commission a statement purporting to give a true and correct statement of the assets and properties of said I. C. Enochs, deceased, but the statement and inventory as filed by said defendants was and is inaccurate, imperfect, erroneous, and incomplete as hereinafter shown, . . . said executors attempting to show that the value of said estate was five hundred seventy-seven thousand, seven hundred forty-nine dollars and fifty-four cents.

"Complainants, upon information which they believe to be true, charge that the estate of I. C. Enochs, deceased, had a full and fair cash value largely in excess of the value shown and represented by the defendant executors; . . . upon information complainants charge that said estate was worth from two and one-half to five million dollars, . . . and upon such information, charge the fact to be that the said estate owned a large equity and interest in what is known as Enochs & Flowers, Ltd., an alleged common-law trust, evidence of which is of record in the office of the chancery clerk of Pike county, Miss., and shown by the printed copy promulgated by the said I. C. Enochs and the defendants during the lifetime of said I. C. Enochs, copy of which is attached hereto as a part hereof, marked Exhibit D. Complainants charge that I. C. Enochs purposely reserved and retained unto himself and until his death the control and a beneficial interest in and use of the properties attempted to be conveyed by said trust, as shown by article 17, as well as other portions and provisions thereof. Complainants charge that the value of the properties attempted to be embraced in said declaration of trust should be considered in arriving at the net value of the estate of I. C. Enochs, deceased, for inheritance tax purposes. . . .

"3. Complainants, upon information which they believe to be true charge that the statement and inventory, Exhibit C, was considered by the state tax commission to be an erroneous and incomplete inventory, and a gross undervaluation of the taxable property of I. C. Enochs, deceased; whereupon the state tax commission, within the time allowed by law, requested an additional inventory and statement, and requested additional information from said executors in order that the commission might correctly and lawfully assess the said estate for inheritance tax purposes, as provided by law, and to that end the commission named and appointed Hon. George Butler, Jackson, Miss., as an official appraiser, with directions to take testimony and report back to the state tax commission the true value of the said estate; . . . to...