William O. Douglas

“ I concur in the judgment of reversal on the ground that nothing in the Constitution prevents taxation by Oregon of a gift by its citizen of federal reserve notes located elsewhere.
While I do not question that in the circumstances of this case a state could, if so advised, constitutionally tax its citizen for action taken for no other purpose than the evasion of its taxing statutes, no such question is, I think, presented by the record. ”

“ For that is as immaterial as is the revocability of any donor's plan to make a gift in contemplation of death at any moment prior to its consummation. Admittedly decedent had such a purpose on the transfer of the notes. To hold that such purpose was not present on the sale of the intangibles would be to isolate one part of the total transaction and to give it significance and meaning utterly inconsistent with the fact that the intangibles were sold for the purpose of acquiring the notes which, in turn, were to be placed under an irrevocable trust. ”

“ Discussion of it seems at most to be academic and not to relieve us of the duty of deciding the only federal question which could by any possibility be said to be raised by the record, namely, whether the Constitution precludes taxation of the gift of the banknotes merely because of the physical fact that they are located without the state. ”