Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ Ct. 751 'not the interest to which some person succeeds on a death, but the interest which ceased by reason of the death.' It levies a sum equal to a certain percentage of the value of the net estate, and provides the criteria by which the net estate shall be ascertained. It thus manifestly assumes that the net estate will be ascertained before the tax is computed. ”

“ The Government offers an algebraic formula by which it would solve the problems raised by two mutually dependent indeterminates. It fairly might be answered, as said by the Circuit Court of Appeals, that 'algebraic formulae are not lightly to be imputed to legislators' but it appears to us that the structure of the statute is sufficient to exclude the imputation. ”

“ The Government's argument turns largely upon the consideration that a residue is only what is left after the payment of paramount claims. But this is not a tax upon a residue, it is a tax upon a transfer of his net estate by a decedent, a distinction marked by the words that we have quoted from the statute, and previously commented upon at length in Knowlton v. ”