Salt Lake Telegram | 1923-08-28 | Page 4 | Tax Exempt Securities

'- r. Tax Exempt Securities j EXAMINATION of estates left by wealthy men of the nation . shows clearer than anything else the trend towards tax exempt bonds, proving that the effort to tax the very wealthy is easily defeated. Large fortunes placed' In tax exempt bonds mean money taken from the industrial field and put Into state and municipal bonds for expensive public pub-lic construction which has been so prevalent since the close of the war that it his developed devel-oped a tax problem in every community in the United States. William Rockefeller, brother of John D. Rockefeller, who died a little more than a year ago, had a gross estate of 1102,584,438, and the net estate was reduced to $67,649,-660 $67,649,-660 due to debts of $3p,43J,247, commissions commis-sions of 11,688,927 to executors, funeral expenses, ex-penses, 113,603, and administration expenses, 2,800,000. An examination of the security holdings bf the estate shows plainly how the government govern-ment taxes were defeated through Invest menlsln" tax exmpt bonds. Security holdings are given a value of 173,009,000. Of this amount 144,000,000 were represented . by bonds exempt from taxes. These bond holdings hold-ings Included 16, i 50,000 of the United States first Liberty loan, 15,000,000 federal land bank. It, 344,000 joint stock land bank bonds and an extensive line of tax exempt municipals, munici-pals, among them being $8,430,000 of New York CHy bonds and I20,5 2,000 of New York state bonds. . t The only deduction that can be gathered from these Items is that by an aggressive attempt to tax the wealthy, the wealthy are finding it more profitable to obtain lower returns in securities exempt from taxation than to invest funds In productive enterprises. Of all of Mr. Rockefeller's securities, his stocks In Standard Oil subsidiaries were worth only slightly in excess of 13,000,000. The estate will pay Inheritance taxes to the federal" fed-eral" government, state of New York and other states of 1 1 6,000,000.