James Clark McReynolds

“ Under the law as it has been, no one need subject himself to double taxation by keeping his securities in a state different from his domicile or by seeking the protection of its laws for his mortgage investments. But it is a practical consideration of some moment that taxation becomes increasingly difficult if the securities of a non-resident may not be taxed where located, and where alone they may be reached, but where the courts are not open to the tax gatherers of the domicile . ”

“ The definition of the term 'property' in the last section, 589, of that article, makes inapplicable any definition relating to general property tax. An inheritance tax is not a property tax, but an excise tax, or a tax upon succession. In re Zook's Estate, 317 Mo. 986, 296 S. W. loc. cit. 780, and cases cited. * * *
'These notes, bonds, and cash were all in the possession of the administrator in Missouri. For what purpose they were in Missouri is not shown. We cannot assume that they were in the state of Missouri for the purpose of escaping taxation in the state of Illinois. ”

“ Of course the words 'due process of law' if taken in their literal meaning have no application to this case; and while it is too late t deny that they have been given a much more extended and artificial signification, still we ought to remember the great caution shown by the Constitution in limiting the power of the States, and should be slow to construe the clause in the Fourteenth Amendment as committing to the Court, with no guide but the Court's own discretion, the validity of whatever laws the States may pass. ”

“ The burden is not on the state to establish the constitutionality of its laws, nor are we limited in supporting their constitutionality to the reasons assigned by the state court . I do not assume, from anything that has been said in this or the earlier cases, that constitutional power to tax the transfer of notes and bonds at their business situs, no longer exists. ”

“ It is a reasonable inference that the cash and notes in such large quantities in Missouri, when none of it was held in Illinois, was retained in this state for the purpose of investment . They may have established a business situs in this state, in which case it would be subject to a general tax, as well as the inheritance tax. * * *
'It (the personalty) possibly acquired a business situs in this state. Whether it did or not, it was within the jurisdiction of the state, and property subject to the transfer tax. ”

“ Whatever incidental qualities may be added by usage of business or by statutory provision, this characteristic remains, and shows itself by the fact that their destruction physically will not destroy the debt which they represent. They are representative, and not the thing itself.'
We find nothing to exempt the effort to tax the transfer of the deposits in Missouri banks from the principle applied in Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. v. Minnesota, supr a. So far as disclosed by the record, the situs of the credit was in Illinois where the depositor had her domicile. ”

“ Every transfer by deed, grant, bargain, sale or gift made within two years prior to the death of grantor, vendor or donor, of a material part of his estate or in the nature of a final disposition or distribution thereof without an adequate valuable consideration shall be construed to have been made in contemplation of death within the meaning of this section. ”

“ The bonds and notes, although physically within Missouri, under our former opinions were choses in action with situs at the domicile of the creditor. At that point they, too, passed from the dead to the living, and there this transfer was actually taxed . As they were not within Missouri for taxation purposes, the transfer was not subject to her power. ”