Cory

John W. Netterblad, executor of the estate of Samuel Olie Fegestad, decedent, appeals from an order fixing inheritance taxes after objections on a residuary bequest to Flekkefjord City Hospital in the Kingdom of Norway.

State inheritance taxes were paid under protest, executor claiming exemption under section 13842, Revenue and Taxation Code.

The sole issue on appeal is whether the Kingdom of Norway reciprocally provides California charities with inheritance tax exemptions, within the meaning of section 13842, subdivision (c). 2 We conclude it does and reverse.

*211 The initial inheritance tax act was enacted in 1893 and completely rewritten in 1905, being modeled from the New York statute. (Barnett, California Inheritance and Gift Taxes A Summary (1955) 43 Cal.L.Rev. 49.) Section 13842 was added in 1943 as part of the Uniform Reciprocal Transfer Tax Act (Stats. 1943, ch. 658, § 1, p. 2306). Part of the reason for enacting section 13842 was to prevent double taxation.

In establishing exemptions from the California inheritance tax, the Legislature is free to impose any conditions it chooses. (Estate of Wilson (1968) 265 Cal.App.2d 943, 947 [ 71 Cal.Rptr. 822 ].)…