West v. Oklahoma Tax Commission (334 U.S. 717)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 14, 1948 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 334 U.S. 717 · 68 S. Ct. 1223
- Decided
- June 14, 1948
- Term
- October Term 1947
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Murphy
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Murphy delivered the opinion of the Court. This appeal concerns the power of the State of Oklahoma to levy an inheritance tax on the estate of a restricted Osage Indian. Specifically, the problem is whether property held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Indian may be included within the taxable estate. Charles West, Jr., was a restricted, full-blood, unallot-ted, adult Osage Indian. He died intestate in 1940, a resident of Oklahoma. No certificate of competency was ever issued to him. Surviving him was his. mother, appellant herein, who is a restricted, full-blood Osage Indian. The entire estate passed to her as the sole heir at law. The Oklahoma Tax Commission entered an order levying a tax on the transfer of the net estate, valued at $111,219.18. With penalties, the total tax imposed was $5,313.35. Appellant made timely objection to the inclusion of certain items in the taxable estate. These items formed the bulk of the estate and had been held in trust for the decedent by the United States, acting through the Secretary of the Interior. Act of June 28, 1906, 34 Stat. 539, as amended, 41 Stat. 1249, 45 Stat. 1478, 52 Stat. 1034. The trust properties involved were as follows: (1) One and 915/2520ths Osage mineral headrights. This item represented the decedent's undivided interest in the oil, gas, coal and other minerals under the lands in Osage…
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