Watson v. State Comptroller of NY

Citations

• 254 U.S. 122
• 41 S. Ct. 43
• 65 L. Ed. 170
• 1920 U.S. LEXIS 1214

Syllabus

<p>In imposing transfer or inheritance taxes, a State may distinguish between property which has borne its fair share of tax burden in the decedent’s lifetime and property of the same kind and passing to the . same class of transferees, which has not. P. 124.</p> <p>The additional tax imposed in New York (Cons. Laws, c. 60; Laws 1917, c. 700), on the transfer of certain kinds of securities held by a decedent at his death on which neither the general property tax nor the alternative stamp tax has been paid during a fixed period prior thereto, is based upon a reasonable classification of property and does not violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Id.</p> <p>This tax is neither a property tax nor a penalty. P. 125.</p> <p>226 N. Y. 384, affirmed.</p>