Estate of Schwarten

79 N.W.2d 836, 274 Wis. 146, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 407
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1956
StatusPublished

This text of 79 N.W.2d 836 (Estate of Schwarten) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Estate of Schwarten, 79 N.W.2d 836, 274 Wis. 146, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 407 (Wis. 1956).

Opinion

MaRtin, J.

The material provisions of sec. 72.04, Wis. Stats., read:

“The following exemptions from the tax are hereby al- . lowed:
*148 “(1) All property transferred ... to corporations or voluntary associations organized under the laws of this state, solely for religious, humane, charitable, or educational purposes, . . . which shall use the property so transferred exclusively for the purposes of their organization, within the state, . . .
“ (3) The exemptions granted in the foregoing subsections (1) and (2) . . . shall extend to transfers to or for the use of corporations, municipal or private, associations, foundations, or trustees located in, and those organized or established under the laws of, any other state, commonwealth, territory, or district, exclusively for public, municipal, religious, humane, charitable, or educational purposes, including institutions maintained by the state, commonwealth, territory, or district itself, if the law of such other state, commonwealth, territory, or district on the date of death of the decedent granted a like and equal exemption to similar transfers from decedents resident therein to municipal or private corporations, associations, foundations, or trustees, as the case may be, located in or organized or established under the laws of Wisconsin, exclusively for such purposes, including institutions maintained by the state of Wisconsin itself.”

The question presented is whether the provisions of sub. (3) of sec. 72.04, Stats., exempt from Wisconsin inheritance tax a bequest by a Wisconsin resident to a charitable corporation of a reciprocal state, where its use by the corporation is not restricted to charitable purposes exclusively within such other state.

It is conceded that New York is a reciprocal state, its statutes providing that in determining the value of a net estate subject to tax all bequests to or for the use of charitable organizations shall be deducted from the value of the gross estate. The exemption is granted to charitable organizations regardless of the state of their organization and without limitation as to where their funds are expended.

In sub. (1) of sec. 72.04, Wis. Stats., the exemption is granted to Wisconsin corporations only when the property transferred shall be used exclusively within Wisconsin. Ap *149 pellant argues that the policy of the legislature there expressed in the requirement of “exclusive use” is carried into sub. (3) and made applicable to charitable organizations of a reciprocal state, requiring that the use be exclusively within that state.

The argument is based on the proposition that in sec. 72.04 (1), Stats., the legislature has adopted as the fundamental concept of the charitable-organization exemption the limitation of exclusive use within the state of organization. We cannot find in sub. (1) the manifestation of such a far-reaching concept. In its broad sense the purpose of the exemption therein granted is to encourage bequests to charitable organizations, and the same intent is expressed in sub. (3). But sub. (1) applies specifically to Wisconsin corporations, whereas sub. (3) applies specifically to out-of-state corporations. To qualify for the exemption under sub. (1) the Wisconsin corporation must use the funds exclusively in Wisconsin; to qualify under sub. (3) the foreign corporation must be the creature of a state which allows a like and equal exemption to Wisconsin organizations. In both, of course, the organization must be charitable in character and the funds must be used for charitable purposes. This is the plain meaning of the language used in the subsections. We cannot see that it is unreasonable, as appellant suggests, for the legislature to intend a limited exemption in the case of Wisconsin corporations and at the same time intend an unlimited exemption to out-of-state corporations. On the contrary, such provisions are entirely consistent with a basic intent to benefit Wisconsin. In permitting an unrestricted use of funds transferred to foreign charitable organizations where, as here, the transferee is a corporation national in scope, the legislature opens the door to use of such funds in Wisconsin. To adopt the view of the appellant would close that door. In this particular case, where it may be noted that a nationally recognized .cancer-research pro *150 gram is carried on at the University of Wisconsin, it is not unlikely that some portion of the funds involved would be used in this state. The interpretation of sec. 72.04 (3) contended for by appellant would make it impossible for the Society to take advantage of those facilities.

The legislature did not expressly incorporate in sub. (3) of sec. 72.04, Stats., the “exclusive use” limitation of sub. (1), although it could easily have done so if that was its intention. Nor did it incorporate such limitation by reference in using the word “extend,” which must be held in this instance to have been used in its sense of “offer,” “accord,” or “grant.” If the legislature, in using the word “extend,” intended it to mean that all the provisions of sub. (1), including “exclusive use,” were to be carried into sub. (3), it could simply have said that the exemptions granted in sub. (1) shall extend to corporations, etc., located in other states without describing such corporations as organized “exclusively for public, municipal, religious, humane, charitable, or educational purposes,” since the organizations entitled to exemption are already so described in sub. (1). In sub. (3), however, the legislature fully described the organizations to which it was to apply, but it omitted the requirement of exclusive use. •

In State v. Shock’s Estate (1952), 122 Ind. App. 713, 716, 106 N. E. (2d) 814, 816, an Indiana statute containing reciprocity provisions similar to sec. 72.04 (3), Wis. Stats., was considered in determining whether a bequest to a Colorado charitable organization was exempt from the Indiana inheritance tax. In the Indiana statute the reciprocity provisions were attached to the general provisions for exemption of transfers to charitable organizations in the following language:

“. . . and provided further that the exemptions in all cases under subdivisions (b), (c),and (d) shall extend to persons, organizations, associations, and corporations organized under *151 the law of other states, and resident therein, provided the law of such other state grants to persons, organizations, associations, and corporations organized under the law of the state of Indiana, and resident therein, a like and equal exemption.”

While the question there was primarily the effect of the word “provided” which connected the reciprocal proviso to the basic provisions of the section (one of which was “exclusive use”), the Indiana court did construe the language as meaning only that the exemption was to be extended to charitable organizations of a reciprocal state regardless of any inequalities that might exist under the law as between resident and nonresident beneficiaries. Here there is no such close connection between the provisions of subs. (1) and (3) of sec. 72.04, Stats.

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Related

Indiana Department of State Revenue v. Estate of Shock
106 N.E.2d 814 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
79 N.W.2d 836, 274 Wis. 146, 1956 Wisc. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/estate-of-schwarten-wis-1956.