DEATH DUTIES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 81, 7 April 1910, Page 8

DEATH DUTIES.

CHARGES ON SMALL ESTATES. In a letter to the press, Mr. A. R. Barclay, of Dunedm, has drawn attention to what he consideis an anomaly in the charges levied on small estates under the Death Duties Act of last session. As a case in point, he mentioned that an old man died at Roslyn last month and left an estate of the value of £92. He bequeathed to three friends £65. The medical and funeral expenses were £13 5s 6d ; tombstone and grave, £10. The balance, after paying these expenses, amounted to £68 14s 6d. Under the old Act, no duty would have been payable on the estate. Under the Act of last year the death duty is 10 per cent, on the sum mentioned above, viz., £< 17s sd. In justification of the alteration of the law made by last year's Act, the Hon. Dr. Findlay, Attorney-General, states that under "the new system substantial relief is given to estates under £1000 going to near relatives of deceased persons. The exemption from duty was increased from £100 to £500, and a reduced duty is charged on estates between £500 and £1000. Substantial increases were only made on large estates. 'As very great relief was given in the case of estates going to support dependents, it is only right, in Dr. Findlay 's opinion, that strangers in blood receiving benefits from an estate nhould pay an increased rate, and in the case referred to by Mr. Barclay all the bequests were to strangers, and that — and that alone — was why any duty was payable.