In re State Inheritance Tax on Nah-me-tsa-he's Estate
| Decision Date | 05 October 1926 |
| Docket Number | 16979. |
| Parties | In re STATE INHERITANCE TAX ON NAH-ME-TSA-HE'S ESTATE. v. POPE et al. CHILDERS, State Auditor, |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
During the trust or restrictive period, Congress has power to control lands within a state, which have been duly allotted to Indians by the United States and thereafter conveyed through trust or restrictive patents.
That the United States directs Indian lands to descend, during the restrictive period, according to the laws of the state in which they are situated, does not make them pass under the laws of such state, so as to become subject to inheritance taxation by the state.
Where personal property, not held in trust by the federal government, is left by a deceased, incompetent, full-blood Osage Indian, as part of her estate, descendible under the statutes of Oklahoma, the same, less legal allowances and exemptions, is subject to an inheritance tax under the laws of this state.
Commissioners' Opinion, Division No. 5.
Appeal from District Court, Osage County; Jesse J. Worten, Judge.
In the matter of the state inheritance tax on the estate of Nah-me-tsa-he, deceased. Proceeding by C. C. Childers, State Auditor, against O. V. Pope, administrator of the estate of Nah-me-tsa-he, deceased, and others, to collect an inheritance tax. From a judgment affirming a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded, with instructions.
Geo. F Short, Atty. Gen., and V. P. Crowe and Leon S. Hirsh, Asst Attys. Gen., for plaintiff in error.
J. M Humphreys and Wilson, Murphey & Duncan, all of Pawhuska, for defendants in error.
This is an appeal from the judgment of the district court of Osage county, rendered on the 12th day of October, 1925, affirming the judgment of the county court of said county and denying the plaintiff in error the right to collect the inheritance tax under the laws of the state of Oklahoma out of the estate of Nah-me-tsa-he, deceased, an incompetent, full-blood Osage Indian. Parties will be referred to here as they appeared in the lower court; that is, C. C. Childers as plaintiff, and the defendants in error as defendants.
The plaintiff, C. C. Childers, as state auditor, filed in the county court of Osage county his application for a citation to show cause why an inheritance tax in the sum of $4,927.82 should not be assessed, levied, and paid out of the estate of Nah-me-tsa-he, deceased. The administrator and the heirs answered, and upon a hearing before the county court the county court denied the right of the state auditor to assess levy, and collect the inheritance tax against said estate, from which judgment, denying said right, the plaintiff appealed to the district court, and upon a hearing said judgment was in all things affirmed, and from this judgment the plaintiff appeals to this court for review.
The issues and facts necessary to a decision in this case are: That Nah-me-tsa-he, a full-blood Osage Indian, died without a certificate of competency on the 27th day of January, 1924, leaving surviving her as her sole and only heirs at law O. V. Pope, her husband, of no Indian blood, and Rhoda Wheeler Pope, her daughter, a full-blood Osage Indian, without a certificate of competency. That her said husband, O. V. Pope, and her said daughter, Rhoda Wheeler Pope, each took an undivided one-half interest in the entire estate of Nah-me-tsa-he, deceased. That she died intestate, possessed of the following described property: Three shares in the Osage tribal mineral rights, of the estimated value of $150,000; United States Liberty Bonds, par value $6,950; lands allotted and inherited, as above described, appraised at $31,793; cash in Citizens' National Bank at Pawkuska, $10,000; real estate mortgage notes, par value. $17,750; automobile and farming machinery, $6,199. That certain deductions, in determining the amount of the net estate, for funeral expenses, attorney fees, administrator's bonds, court costs, debts, and family allowances, were proper items to be deducted from the total value of the estate. And in the application for citation the plaintiff seeks to assess, levy, and collect tax of $2,488.91 against the undivided one-half interest of her husband and $2,438.91 against the undivided one-half interest of the daughter, making a total tax of $4,927.82, with 10 per cent. penalty from the date of the decedent's death on January 27, 1924.
It was conceded in oral argument, on part of the attorney general, for the plaintiff, that under the decision of the case of C. C. Childers, State Auditor of Oklahoma, Appellant v. John Beaver and Benjamin Quapaw, Appellees, 46 S.Ct. 387, 70 L.Ed. 462, decided April 12, 1926, subsequent to the decision complained of in this case, the allotment and whatever mineral shares and other tribal interest that was owned, held, and possessed by Nah-me-tsa-he, at the time of her death, would not be chargeable with inheritance tax as against her full-blood Osage daughter, Rhoda Wheeler Pope, but that it would be assessable and collectible as against the undivided one-half interest of O. V.
Pope her surviving husband, who was not of Indian blood. It is further contended that the inheritance tax is assessable and collectible against all the personal property owned and possessed by the deceased at the time of...
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