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Show WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE? Andrew Carnegie left four and one half billion dollars in a fund to provide pnsions for friends and others unabled to care for them-' selves. The court held that this sum was not subject to an inheritance tax by the state on the ground that it was set aside by Carnegie for charitable purpose and was construed to be a self-imposed tax. It' prevented increasing state taxes by eliminating many cases which the' state would otherwise have had to provide help for. j A man in Illinois who was killed in an automobile accident left seventy-five thousand dollars in accident insurance which was all that stood between his family and charity from neighbors and the community. He had taxed himself heavily to prevent those dependent on him from becoming a burden to the public. Yet the sum left by this man is subject to a dozen different kinds of taxation, insurance companies com-panies being compelled to pay toll on premiums, capital stock, license fee and other assessments too numerous to mention. The reasoning of the court in declaring exempt from taxation property of Canregie set aside for charitable purposes is readily apparent, ap-parent, but the logic of politicians subjecting funds of insurance companies, com-panies, used to prevent increasing the taxes of the state by eliminating eliminat-ing cases of charity, to taxation, is not readily understandable. |