Succession of Westfeldt

Citations

• 122 La. 836
• 48 So. 281
• 1909 La. LEXIS 614

Syllabus

<p>1. Taxation (§ SOI*) — Inheritance Tax — Retroactive Effect.</p> <p>The provisions of the Constitution and the statutes touching the liability for an inheritance tax do not extend to or reach back to conditions anterior to the Constitution itself. The Constitution looked to the present and to the future, and not to the past.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Taxation, Cent. Dig. § 1676; Dec. Dig. § 861.*]</p> <p>2. Taxation (§ 868*) — “Inheritance” Tax-Real Estate in Another State.</p> <p>The inheritance tax law unquestionably deals with a Louisiana succession alone, and with the right and privilege which has been conferred upon the heirs and legatees therein or receiving by inheritance under the laws of Louisiana (Acts 1906, p. 178, Act No. 109). The word “inheritance” in the first and second sections of the act must in the application of the law be held to have the same meaning and scope. The heirs and legatees of P. M. West-feldt do not receive by inheritance under the laws of Louisiana the real estate situated in North Carolina.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Taxation, Cent. Dig. §§ 1685, 1686; Dec. Dig. § 868.*]</p> <p>3. Taxation (§ 869*) — Inheritance Tax — Real Estate in Another State.</p> <p>It is the right and privilege conferred upon the heirs and legatees of a succession of receiving by inheritance which is the basis upon which the inheritance tax rests. The Legislature must reasonably be supposed to have measured the burden imposed for the rights and privileges granted by the extent of the rights and privileges which it has itself conferred, and not upon that which has been conferred by the laws of another state.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Taxation, Cent. Dig. & 1688; Dec. Dig. § 869.*]</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>