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".
(Code 1951, Art. 81, sec. 230).

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
for reassessment purposes once in every five years until January I,
1951, and every three years thereafter (Code 1951, Art. 81, sec.
230 (8a, b), 231-235).

The State Tax Commission has charge of the qualifications and
registration of foreign corporations doing business in Maryland. In
addition to collecting an annual filing fee and accounting monthly
for all such collections to the Treasurer, the Commission assesses the
tangible personal property of foreign corporations and distributes
the proceeds to the localities in which the property is located. Previ-
ous to 1940, the power to assess such property was in the hands of
local taxing officials. Charters and amendments to charters of do-
mestic corporations are filed with, and recorded and approved by the
Commission. In its jurisdiction over foreign corporations, the Com-
mission succeeds the Secretary of State; while in passing on appeals
locally made, and on certificates of incorporation, it exercises func-
tions formerly performed by the courts (Code 1951, Art. 81, sec, 12;
Art. 27, sees. 4, II, 26).

Under the income tax law, the Commission was given appellate
jurisdiction from the final action of the Comptroller. The determina-
tion of the Commission is prima-facie evidence of the amount of tax
due, but an appeal to the Court lies from the findings of the Com-
mission in the manner now provided for all appeals from the Com-
mission in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction (Code 1951, Art.
81, sec. 301).

Appropriations 1953 1954
General Fund $552,774 $573,227
Staff: 23.

DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND PROCUREMENT

James G. Rennie, Director
James P. Slicher, Chief, Budget Bureau
Adam G. Uhl, Chief, Purchasing Bureau

318 Light St., Baltimore 2 Telephone: Lexington 9-2050
The Department of Budget and Procurement was established in
1939, combining the budgeting and purchasing functions of the State