March 23, 1893, and all amendments thereto, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act," approved March 20, 1905, and all amendments thereto and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act.

[Approved April 7, 1911. Stats. 1911, p. 713.]

Tax on transfers of property.

§ 1. A tax shall be and is hereby imposed upon the transfer of any property, real, personal or mixed, or of any interest therein or income therefrom, in trust or otherwise, to persons, institutions or corporations, not hereinafter exempted, to be paid to the treasurer of the proper county, as hereinafter directed, for the use of the state, in the following

cases:

(1) When the transfer is by will or by the intestate or homestead laws of this state, from any person dying seised or possessed of the property while a resident of the state, or by any probate homestead set apart from said property.

(2) When the transfer is by will or intestate laws of property within this state and the decedent was a nonresident of the state at the time of his death.

(3) When the transfer is of property made by a resident, or by a nonresident when such nonresident's property is within this state, by deed, grant, bargain, sale, assignment or gift, made without valuable and adequate consideration in contemplation of the death of the grantor, vendor, assignor or donor, or intended to take effect in possession or enjoyment at or after such death. When any such person, institution or corporation becomes beneficially entitled in possession or expectancy to any property or the income therefrom, by any such transfer, whether made before or after the passage of this act.

(4) Such taxes shall be and remain a lien upon the property passed or transferred until paid, and the person to whom the property passes or is transferred, and all administrators, executors, and trustees of every es tate so transferred or passed, shall be liable for any and all such taxes until the same shall have been paid as hereinafter directed; provided, that unless sued for within five years after they are due and legally demandable, such taxes shall cease to be a lien as against any bona fide purchaser of real property; and provided that no such lien shall cease within five years from the date of the passage of this act. The tax so imposed shall be upon the market value of such property at the rates hereinafter prescribed and only upon the excess over the exemptions hereinafter granted.

Whenever any person or corporation shall exercise a power of appointment derived from any disposition of property made either before or after the passage of this act, such appointment, when made, shall be deemed a transfer taxable under the provisions of this act, in the same manner as though the property to which such appointment relates belonged absolutely to the donee of such power, and had been bequeathed

or devised by such donee by will; and whenever any person or corporation possessing such power of appointment so derived shall omit or fail to exercise the same within the time provided therefor, in whole or in part, a transfer taxable under the provisions of this act shall be deemed to take place to the extent of such omission or failure, in the same manner as though the persons or corporations thereby becoming entitled to the possession or enjoyment of the property to which such power related had succeeded thereto by a will of the donee of the power failing to exercise such power, taking effect at the time of such omission or failure.

Rates of tax.

§ 2.

When the property or any beneficial interest therein so passed or transferred exceeds in value the exemption hereinafter specified and shall not exceed in value twenty-five thousand dollars the tax hereby imposed shall be:

(1) Where the person or persons entitled to any beneficial interest in such property shall be the husband, wife, lineal issue, lineal ancestor of the decedent or any child adopted as such in conformity with the laws of this state, or any child to whom such decedent for not less than ten years prior to such transfer stood in the mutually acknowledged relation of a parent; provided, however, such relationship began at or before the child's fifteenth birthday, and was continuous for said ten years thereafter, or any lineal issue of such adopted or mutually acknowledged child, at the rate of one per centum of the clear value of such interest in such property.

(2) Where the person or persons entitled to any beneficial interest in such property shall be the brother or sister or a descendant of a brother or sister of the decedent, a wife or widow of a son, or the husband of a daughter of the decedent, at the rate of two per centum of the clear value of such interest in such property.

(3) Where the person or persons entitled to any beneficial interest in such property shall be the brother or sister of the father or mother or a descendant of a brother or sister of the father or mother of the decedent. at the rate of three per centum of the clear value of such interest in such property.

(4) Where the person or persons entitled to any beneficial interests in such property shall be the brother or sister of the grandfather or grandmother or a descendant of the brother or sister of the grandfather or grandmother of the decedent, at the rate of four per centum of the clear value of such interest in such property.

(5) Where the person or persons entitled to any beneficial interest in such property shall be in any other degree of collateral consanguinity than is hereinbefore stated, or shall be a stranger in blood to the decedent, or shall be a body politic or corporate, at the rate of five per centum of the clear value of such interest in such property.

§ 3. The foregoing rates in section 2 are for convenience termed the primary rates. When the market value of such property or interest ex

ceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, the rates of tax upon such excess shall be as follows:

(1) Upon all in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars and up to fifty thousand dollars, two times the primary rates.

(2) Upon all in excess of fifty thousand and up to one hundred thousand dollars, three times the primary rates.

(3) Upon all in excess of one hundred thousand dollars and up to five hundred thousand dollars, four times the primary rates.

(4) Upon all in excess of five hundred thousand dollars, five times the primary rates.

Property exempt from tax.

§ 4. The following exemptions from the tax are hereby allowed: (1) All property transferred to societies, corporations, and institutions now or hereafter exempted by law from taxation, or to any public corporation, or to any society, corporation, institution, or association of persons engaged in or devoted to any charitable, benevolent, educational, public, or other like work (pecuniary profit not being its object or purpose), or to any person, society, corporation, institution, or association of persons in trust for or to be devoted to any charitable, benevolent, educational, or public purpose, by reason whereof any such person or corporation shall become beneficially entitled, in possession or expectancy, to any such property or to the income thereof shall be exempt.

(2) Property of the clear value of twenty-four thousand ($24,000) dollars transferred to the widow or to a minor child of the decedent, and of ten thousand ($10,000) dollars transferred to each of the other persons described in the first subdivision of section 2 shall be exempt.

(3) Property of the clear value of two thousand ($2,000) dollars transferred to each of the persons described in the second subdivision of section 2 shall be exempt.

(4) Property of the clear value of one thousand five hundred ($1,500) dollars transferred to each of the persons described in the third subdivision of section 2 shall be exempt.

(5) Property of the clear value of one thousand ($1,000) dollars transferred to each of the persons described in the fourth subdivision of section 2 shall be exempt.

(6) Property of the clear value of five hundred ($500) dollars transferred to each of the persons and corporations described in the fifth subdivision of section 2 shall be exempt.

Tax on life estate becomes due immediately after death of decedent. § 5. When any grant, gift, legacy, devise or succession upon which a tax is imposed by section 1 of this act shall be an estate, income, or interest for a term of years, or for life, or determinable upon any future or contingent event, or shall be a remainder, reversion, or other expectancy, real or personal, the entire property or fund by which such estate, income, or interest is supported, or of which it is a part, shall be ap

praised immediately after the death of the decedent, and the market value thereof determined, in the manner provided in section 15 of this act, and the tax prescribed by this act shall be immediately due and payable to the treasurer of the proper county, and, together with the interest thereon, shall be and remain a lien on said property until the same is paid; provided, that the person or persons, or body politic or corporate, beneficially interested in the property chargeable with said tax, may elect not to pay the same until they shall come into the actual possession or enjoyment of such property, and in that case such person or persons, or body politic or corporate, shall execute a bond to the people of the state of California, in a penalty of twice the amount of the tax arising upon personal estate, with such sureties as the said superior court may approve, conditioned for the payment of said tax, and interest thereon, at such time or period as they or their representatives may come into the actual possession or enjoyment of such property, which bond shall be filed in the office of the county clerk of the proper county and a certified copy thereof shall be immediately transmitted to the state controller; provided, further, that such person shall make a full and verified return of such property to said court, and file the same in the office of the county clerk within one year from the death of the decedent, and within that period enter into such security, and renew the same every five years. Bequests to executors.

§ 6. Whenever a decedent appoints or names one or more executors or trustees, and makes a bequest or devise of property to them in lieu of commissions or allowances, which otherwise would be liable to said tax, or appoints them his residuary legatees, and said bequest, devises, or residuary legacies exceed what would be a reasonable compensation for their services, such excess over and above the exemptions herein provided for shall be liable to said tax; and the superior court in which the probate proceedings are pending shall fix the compensation.

When taxes are due.

§ 7. All taxes imposed by this act, unless otherwise herein provided for, shall be due and payable at the death of the decedent, and if the same are paid within eighteen months, no interest shall be charged and collected thereon, but if not so paid, interest at the rate of ten per centum per annum shall be charged and collected from the time said tax accrued; provided, that if said tax is paid within six months from the accruing thereof a discount of five per centum shall be allowed and deducted from said tax. And in all cases where the executors, administrators, or trustees do not pay such tax within eighteen months from the death of the decedent, they shall be required to give a bond in the form and to the effect prescribed in section 5 of this act for the payment of said tax, together with interest.

When penalty for nonpayment of tax may be suspended.

§ 8. The penalty of ten per cent per annum imposed by section 7 hereof, for the nonpayment of said tax, shall not be charged in cases

where, in the judgment of the court, by reason of claims made upon the estate, necessary litigation, or other unavoidable cause of delay, the estate of any decedent, or a part thereof, cannot be settled at the end of eighteen months from the death of the decedent; but in such cases seven per cent per annum shall be charged upon the said tax from the expiration of said eighteen months until the cause of such delay is removed, after which ten per cent interest per annum shall again be charged until the tax is paid; but litigation to defeat the payment of the tax shall not be considered necessary litigation.

Executor to deduct tax from property before delivery to legatee.

§ 9. Any administrator, executor, or trustee having in charge or trust any legacy or property for distribution, subject to the said tax, shall deduct the tax therefrom, or if the legacy or property be not money he shall collect the tax thereon, upon the market value thereof, from the legatee or person entitled to such property, and he shall not deliver, or be compelled to deliver, any specific legacy or property subject to tax to any person until he shall have collected the tax thereon; and whenever any such legacy shall be charged upon or payable out of real estate, the executor, administrator, or trustee shall collect said tax from the distributee thereof, and the same shall remain a charge on such real estate until paid; if, however, such legacy be given in money to any person for a limited period, the executor, administrator, or trustee shall retain the tax upon the whole amount; but if it be not in money he shall make application to the superior court to make an apportionment, if the case require it, of the sum to be paid into his hands by such legatees, and for such further order relative thereto as the case may require.

Executors to sell enough property to pay tax.

§ 10. All executors, administrators, and trustees shall have full power to sell so much of the property of the decedent as will enable them to pay said tax, in the same manner as they may be enabled by law to do for the payment of debts of the estate, and the amount of said tax shall be paid as hereinafter directed.

Tax paid to county treasurer. Receipts.

§ 11. Every sum of money retained by an executor, administrator, or trustee, or paid into his hands, for any tax on property, shall be paid by him, within thirty days thereafter, to the treasurer of the county in which the probate proceedings are pending. Upon the payment to any county treasurer of any tax due under this act, such treasurer shall issue a receipt therefor in triplicate, one copy of which he shall deliver to the person paying said tax, and the original and one copy thereof he shall immediately send to the controller of state, whose duty it shall be to charge the treasurer so receiving the tax with the amount thereof, and said controller shall retain one of said receipts and the other he shall countersign and seal with the seal of his office, and immediately transmit to the clerk of the court fixing such tax. And an executor, administrator,