Charles Evans Hughes

“ In dealing with the meaning and application of an act of Congress enacted in the exercise of its plenary power under the Constitution to tax income and to grant exemptions from that tax, it is the will of Congress which controls, and the expression of its will, in the absence of language evidencing a different purpose, should be interpreted 'so as to give a uniform application to a nation-wide scheme of taxation'. ”

“ Whether property received by an heir from the estate of his ancestor is acquired by inheritance, when it is distributed under an agreement settling a contest by the heir of the validity of the decedent's will, is a question upon which state courts have differed. The question has arisen in the application of state laws of taxation. In Massachusetts, the rule is that when a will is admitted to probate under a compromise agreement, the state succession tax is applied to the property 'that passes by the terms of the will as written and not as changed by any agreement for compromise'. ”

“ Thus the acquisition by succession to a decedent's estate whether real or personal was embraced in the exemption. Further, by the 'estate tax', Congress has imposed a tax upon the transfer of the entire net estate of every person dying after September 8, 1916, [8] allowing such exemptions as it sees fit in arriving at the net estate. Congress has not indicated any intention to tax again the value of the property which legatees, devisees or heirs receive from the decedent's estate.
Petitioner was concededly an heir of his grandmother under the Massachusetts statute. ”