O'Donnell v. Scott

159 P.2d 198, 176 Or. 500, 1945 Ore. LEXIS 128
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 25, 1945
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 159 P.2d 198 (O'Donnell v. Scott) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Donnell v. Scott, 159 P.2d 198, 176 Or. 500, 1945 Ore. LEXIS 128 (Or. 1945).

Opinion

BAILEY, J.

The single question here involved is whether the amount of the federal estate tax on this estate should be deducted from the residuum of the estate before computing the additional collateral inheritance tax payable to the state of Oregon, under the second paragraph of § 20-105, O. C. L. A., on the distributive share of James B. O’Shea, Jr., nephew of the decedent. The circuit court ruled that the federal *502 estate tax should not be deducted. From this order John F. O’Donnell, executor, and James B. O’Shea, Jr., administrator with the will annexed of the estate of John F. O’Shea, deceased, have appealed.

John F. O’Shea died testate on the 28th of October, 1943. In his will specific bequests and devises were made to various institutions and individuals, including his brother, James B. O’Shea, Sr., and his nephew, James B. O’Shea, Jr. The residue of the estate was left to his brother, James B. O’Shea, Sr. The latter predeceased the testator, leaving as his lineal descendant his son, James B. O’Shea, Jr., who took what his father Avould have received under the will had he survived the testator. We shall hereinafter refer to all the bequests and devises to James B. O’Shea, Sr., and to his son as if they had been made direct to James B. O’Shea, Jr.

The gross estate was appraised at $795,805.97. After making the deductions allowed by laAv the net estate amounted to $753,574.37. Specific bequests and devises aggregated $400,366.67, leaving a residuary estate of $353,207.70 before the payment of the federal estate tax. The federal estate tax amounted to $191,469.57. This latter amount was not deducted from the residuary estate before computing the amount of the state tax. In consequence, the total amount of the state tax assessed upon the distributive share of James B. O ’Shea, Jr., was $38,293.92 greater than it would have been had the federal estate tax been deducted from the residuum of the estate before fixing the amount of such tax.

We are called upon again to construe chapter 13, Oregon Laws 1935, codified as §§ 20-106 and 20-107, O. C. L. A. In the case of In re Lewis’ Estate, 160 Or. 486, 85 P. (2d) 1032, it was decided that the act was *503 constitutional and that the federal estate tax should not be deducted from the net estate before determining the tax thereon under the first paragraph of § 20-105, O. C. L. A. Now we are concerned with the question of whether the federal estate tax should be deducted from the residuary estate prior to the computation of the additional collateral tax imposed on the distributive share of James B. O’Shea, Jr., by the second paragraph of § 20-105, supra.

To arrive at the legislative intent in the enactment of chapter 13, supra, that act should be read in connection with all statutes relating to the same subject-matter “and effect given to every word, phrase, sen-, tence and section of all such statutes, if that be possible”. Stowe v. Ryan, 135 Or. 371, 386, 296 P. 857. With that canon of construction in mind we turn first to other statutory provisions relating to the inheritance tax.

Section 20-101, O. C. L. A., provides that “All property within the jurisdiction of the state, * * which shall pass or vest by * * * will or by statutes of inheritance * * * to any person or persons * * * shall be and is subject to tax at the rate hereinafter specified in section 20-105 * *

This last-mentioned section (§ 20-105) contains three unnumbered paragraphs. The first paragraph provides that the “rates of tax on all estates as provided in section 20-101 shall be as follows:” On any amount in excess of $10,000, up to and including $25,000, one per cent; then the tax is graduated on amounts above $25,000, reaching a maximum of 15 per cent on any amount in excess of $1,500,000. The tax specified in the first paragraph of this section is “in full for all inheritance tax” on such part of the *504 estate “which shall pass to or for the use or benefit of any grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, husband, wife, child or stepchild or any lineal descendant of the deceased.”

Under the second paragraph of that section, when any inheritance, devise, etc., ‘ ‘ shall pass to or for the use or benefit of any brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew or any lineal descendant of the same, in every such case, in addition to the tax levied on such estate, such person shall pay an inheritance tax as follows: ’ ’ On any amount in excess of $1,000, up to and including $3,000, one per cent, with the rate increasing progressively as the amount of the devise or bequest increases.

The third paragraph of this section specifies that “In all other cases, in addition to the tax levied on such estate” a devisee or beneficiary “shall pay an inheritance tax” at a higher rate than that prescribed in the second paragraph.

At the time of the enactment of chapter 13, Oregon Laws 1935 (§§ 20-106 and 20-107, O. C. L. A.), the legislature had not specified what deductions, if any, should be made from the gross estate in order to arrive at the net taxable estate. Certain deductions, however, were allowed by the courts. In the ease of In re Inman’s Estate, 101 Or. 182, 199 P. 615, 16 A. L. R. 675, it was held that the federal estate tax should be deducted from the gross estate before computing the amount of the state tax. The reason given for this conclusion is stated in the following language:

“ * * * So far as we have been able to discover, every reported judicial opinion which recognizes and observes the well-defined and universally acknowledged distinction between an estate tax and an inheritance tax, is to the effect that the federal *505 estate tax must be deducted before measuring the amount of the state inheritance tax, unless, however, some peculiar and unusual language appearing in the state statute controls and produces a different result: * * V’ (Italics supplied)

In July, 1933, the case of Cabell v. Holman, 144 Or. 127, 24 P. (2d) 1, was decided. It was held there that, inasmuch as charitable bequests were exempted from inheritance tax, the value of such bequests should be deducted from the net value of an estate before computing the tax. At its next session after the decision in the Cabell case, the legislature enacted § § 20-106 and 20-107, O. C. L. A. (chapter 13, Laws of Oregon 1935).

Section 20-106, insofar as material here, reads as follows:

“In ascertaining the net value of estates for the purpose of computing inheritance tax the following deductions, and no others, may be made from the gross value of the taxable estate:
* # •:& * *
“(d) Income or gift taxes of the United States or the state of Oregon owing at the date of death, but not United States estate taxes. * * *” (Italics supplied)

Section 20-107 is as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
159 P.2d 198, 176 Or. 500, 1945 Ore. LEXIS 128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/odonnell-v-scott-or-1945.