In re Board of Home Missions — 33 N.Y. St. Rep. 793

Majority

p. 793

In the Matter of the Application of The Board of Home Missions Under the Will of Henrietta A. Lenox, Deceased.

(Supreme Court, General Term, First Department,

Filed October 24, 1890.)

Headnote

Collateral inheritance tax—Exemption—Board of Home Missions.

The Board of Home Missions is not exempt from taxation under its charter or the laws of the state, and, therefore, a legacy to it is subject to the collateral inheritance tax.

p. 794

Appeal by the people and the comptroller of the city and county of New York from an order of the surrogate of that county directing the executors of the estate of Henrietta A. Lenox to pay the sum of $2,500 to the Board of Home Missions.

Benj. F. Dos Bassos, for app’lts; Hamilton Odell, for ex’rs.

The Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States was created a corporation by chapter 287 of the Laws of 1872. But the act did not exempt it from liability to taxation under the general laws of the state.

A legacy of $50,000 was given to this board by the will of the testatrix, Henrietta A. Lenox. And the executors paid the sum of $47,500 of the amount to the board, reserving the residue for the collateral inheritance tax. The board considered that to be unauthorized, and petitioned the surrogate for an order directing the payment to it of this reserved amount. And the surrogate made the order from which the appeal has been brought.

The board has not been exempted from taxation by any law of the state. In that respect it stands precisely as the board of Foreign Missions does, whose case has been already examined. And for the reasons then given, the order made on the application of this board should be reversed, with ten dollars costs and the disbursements.

Van Brunt, P. J., and Brady, J., concur.