William R. Day

“ A state succession tax stands on different grounds from a similar tax by the United States or a general state tax upon transfers. It is more unlimited in its possible extent, if not altogether unlimited, and therefore it is necessary that the boundaries of the power to levy such taxes should be accurately understood and defined.
I have always believed that a state inheritance tax was an exercise of the power of regulating the devolution of property by inheritance or will upon the death of the owner,-a power which belongs to the states ”

“ No more and no less could be done by virtue of it in the one case than in the other. Its effective agency to produce the result intended is neither strengthened nor weakened by the nature of the instrument used by the donor of the power to create it. The power, however or whenever created, authorized the donee by her will to devest certain defeasible estates, and to vest them absolutely in one person. If this authority had been conferred by will instead of by deed, the right to act would have been precisely the same, and the power would have neither gained nor lost in force. ”

“ But if there is no succession, or if the succession has fully vested, or has passed beyond dependence upon the continuing of the state's permission or grant, an attempt to levy a tax under the power to regulate succession would be an attempt to appropriate property in a way which the 14th Amendment has been construed to forbid. No matter what other taxes might be levied, a succession tax could not be, and so it has been decided in New York. ”