First Nat. Bank of Memphis v. State Tax Commission
| Decision Date | 18 December 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 37742,37742 |
| Citation | 210 Miss. 590,49 So.2d 410 |
| Parties | FIRST NAT. BANK OF MEMPHIS v. STATE TAX COMMISSION. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
J. L. Byrd, Jackson, John S. Potter, Memphis, Tenn., for appellant.
J. H. Sumrall, Jackson, for appellee.
HOLMES, Commissioner.
This is an appeal from a decree of the Chancery Court of Hinds County adjudging the appellee to be entitled to recover of the appellant an additional inheritance tax in the sum of $1,152.00, and interest thereon. There is no dispute about the facts. H. Dent Minor died on July 12, 1947. At the time of his death, and for a number of years prior thereto, he was a resident of Desoto County, Mississippi. He left a last will and testament wherein he made the following bequests:
To American Foundation for the Blind, Inc.... $5,000.00
To University of Virginia ................... 10,000.00
To Southwestern University in Memphis ....... 10,000.00
To Gailor Hall, Memphis ...................... 5,000.00
To Crippled Children's Hospital, Memphis ..... 5,000.00
To Sunshine Home for Aged Men, Memphis ....... 1,000.00
None of the beneficiaries of the foregoing bequests are located in the State of Mississippi, but are all conceded to be within the classification of corporations or associations 'organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private stockholder or individual, or to a trustee or trustees exclusively for such religious, charitable, scientific, literary, or educational purposes'.
In the rendition of the Mississippi State Inheritance Tax Return on behalf of the decedent, the foregoing bequests were claimed as deductions from the value of the gross estate for the purpose of determining the taxable net estate of the decedent in accordance with the provisions of Section 9267 of the Mississippi Code of 1942. These deductions were disallowed by the State Tax Commission, and the additional state inheritance tax resulting from such disallowance was demanded of the executor of the estate of the decedent, and this proceeding was instituted to determine the question of the liability of the estate of the decedent for the additional tax demanded.
The sole question presented by the record is whether or not the estate of a resident is entitled to deductions for bequests made to religious, charitable, or educational corporations or associations located outside of the State of Mississippi in determining the amount of the state inheritance tax to be paid. The applicable statute is Section 9267 of the Mississippi Code of 1942, the pertinent provisions of which are as follows:
'Sec. 9267. Deductions from the gross estate.--For the purpose of the tax, the value of the net estate shall be determined: '(a) In the case of a resident, by deducting from the value of the gross estate * * *
It is the contention of the appellee that the deductions provided for in the foregoing statute are only authorized to be made to corporations or associations of the classification enumerated that are situated within the State of Mississippi. It is argued by appellee that the deductions are in the nature of exemptions or appropriations, and that the Legislature was without constitutional power or authority to grant exemptions or make appropriations to corporations or associations outside of the State of Mississippi, and that therefore it must be concluded that the legislative intent and policy in enacting the statute was to apply the deductions only to those corporations and associations which are exempt from taxation under the laws of the State of Mississippi. We are unable to find merit in this contention and argument of appellee. The fallacy of appellee's position is that it is undertaking by interpretative devices to change the plain and unambiguous language of the statute. Interpretative devices, however, may be resorted to only to resolve ambiguity. Jasper County v. Town of...
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...Yerger v. State, 91 Miss. 802, 822, 45 So. 849, 853 (1908). Weeks places great reliance on First National Bank of Memphis v. State Tax Commission, 210 Miss. 590, 599, 49 So.2d 410, 412 (1950), where it is The Courts have no right to add anything to or take anything from a statute, where the......
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...is not within the province of this [C]ourt to add to the law as the Legislature has written it.” First Nat'l Bank of Memphis v. State Tax Comm'n, 210 Miss. 590, 49 So.2d 410, 412 (1950) (quoting City of Hazlehurst v. Mayes, 96 Miss. 656, 51 So. 890, 891 (1910) ); see also Conway v. Mississi......
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