accounting systems, and changes in the forms of reports by said
officers of the Comptroller (Code 1947 Supp. Art. 19, secs. 41-52)..

1948 1949
Appropriations $122,750 $126,489
Staff: 26..

STATE TAX COMMISSION.

Chairman: Joseph H. A. Rogan, 1951
Owen E. Hitching, 1949; William W. Travers, 1953
Albert. W. Ward, Executive Secretary
501 Davison Building, Baltimore 1 Telephone: Lexington 1090.

The State Tax Commission is composed of three members appointed
by the Governor for terms of six years, one of the terms expiring
every two years. One member must be a resident of the Eastern
Shore, one a resident of Baltimore City, and the other a resident of
one of the Western Shore counties. "Not more than two of said com-
missioners shall be members of the same political party, and each
shall be a taxpayer and a qualified voter of this State." (Code 1939,
Art. 81, sec. 167). The State Tax Commission was created in 1914,
superseding the State Tax Commissioner, an office which was estab-
lished in 1878, with functions virtually limited to the assessment of
the shares of domestic corporations and national banks, the gross re-
ceipts of certain classes of corporations, and taxes on distilled spirits.
In addition to the duties formerly exercised by the State Tax Com-
missioner, the Commission is empowered to "supervise the adminis-
tration of the assessment and tax laws of Maryland and of each
county or city thereof"; "to enforce and execute a continuing method
of assessment and to require that all property in the State be reviewed
for assessment at least once in every five years", but not necessarily
by reassessment of all property in the same year; to act as an appel-
late tribunal to which all appeals from assessments of real and per-
sonal property made by local assessing bodies must be taken; to as-
sess the operating property, except land, of railroads and other public
utilities and contract carriers; "to participate in any proceeding in
any court wherein any assessment, or taxation question is involved"..

The Commission appoints for each of the counties a Supervisor of
Assessments, who has the status of chief assessor in the county, with
power also to appeal to the Commission from any assessments or
rulings made by the County Commissioners. The supervisors are
appointed from a list of five nominees submitted by the County Com-
missioners. They serve during good behavior and are removable by
the State Tax Commission "for incompetency or other cause". Their
salaries are fixed by the Tax Commission after consultation with the
respective County Commissioners. The State and the counties share
equally the cost of salaries. A supervisor is also appointed for Balti-
more City with important duties of investigation. The Supervisor
of Assessments is the chief assessor and acts as such over local as-
sessors. The local assessors are appointed by the County Commis-
sioners for an indefinite period from a list of applicants examined and
graded by the State Tax Commission. Their salaries are fixed and
paid in a similar manner to those of the supervisors. The assessors
review for reassessment one-fifth of the property in each county of
Maryland each year, so that all property in each county is reviewed.