(14) Inheritance tax, an excise tax assessed by the state on the passing of property of deceased persons by will or the laws regulating intestate succession, graded in proportion to the amount of the legacy or distributive share and the distance of relationship of the beneficiary to the deceased, the maximum being ten per cent; the whole of this tax is retained by the state. (15) Stock transfer tax, a stamp tax on the sale of shares of two cents on each one hundred dollars of face value; all this tax is retained by the state. (16) Motor vehicle tax, an excise tax on the use of motor vehicles, assessed by the state and proportioned according to the horsepower or capacity of the vehicle; the whole of this tax is retained by the commonwealth and used for the maintenance of state highways. (17) Tax on boxing matches, an excise tax of five per cent of the gross receipts of licensed boxing matches, collected by the state and distributed to the cities and towns in which the matches are held. (18) Miscellaneous revenue. In addition to the foregoing there is a large amount of miscellaneous revenue derived from fees, costs, interest, sale of property and the rendering of various forms of services; but none of such revenue is derived from taxation, using the word in its proper sense. The rate of the excise tax levied under paragraphs 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 is the average local tax rate on real and tangible personal property throughout the state for the preceding three years, and in 1920 amounted to $21.34 per thousand. State Taxes. The expenses of the state government at the present time, exclusive of the payments on the war bonus account which are met by special taxes, but including interest on the public debt, amount to a little over $40,000,000 annually. This amount is raised primarily by the excise taxes described above, which are levied in accordance with rates fixed by statutes of a permanent character remaining in force until amended or repealed by the legislature, although the amount received from these sources varies from year to year in accordance with business conditions or the amount of use which is made by individuals or corporations of the franchises or privileges. taxed. Each year near the close of the session of the legislature the amount by which the appropriations of the legislature required to be expended during the year will exceed the estimated receipts from the excise taxes, license fees and other sources of revenue during the year is determined, and the amount thus ascertained is assessed on the cities and towns in the state in proportion to their valuation in real estate and tangible personal property and is in turn assessed by them as a direct tax on these two classes of property in the same manner as the local taxes are assessed and the proceeds turned over to the state. This direct tax is known as the "state tax" and is what is called in parliamentary language a deficiency bill. In the year 1920 the principal revenues of the state other than the so-called state tax were in round numbers as follows: Corporation Taxes: Domestic business corporations (share of the state).. $2,253,000 Foreign business corporations (share of the state)... 496,000 816,000 As this fell short of the required amount by over $17,000,000, in order to avoid too great an increase in the state tax over the preceding year a special tax on the income of corporations was levied for the year 1920 only, which produced a revenue of $3,165,000, and the state tax was fixed at $14,000,000. In addition to these taxes there are the special taxes imposed in 1919 for a period of five years to meet the bonds issued to raise money for the bonuses paid to the soldiers who served in the World War, assessed as an additional state tax, additional poll tax, additional inheritance tax, additional income tax and additional tax on corporations; these taxes produced $4,300,000 in 1920. Excluding the revenue from the war bonus tax, and about $1,500,000 of the other revenue used for special purposes not likely to recur annually, the remainder, amounting to approximately $38,500,000, was expended in substantially the following proportions: County Tax. No excise taxes are collected by or distributed to the counties. The revenue of each county is raised in part by miscel laneous fees and charges and the remainder by a county tax, the amount of which is determined each year by a resolve of the legislature, and which is assessed upon the cities and towns within the county in proportion to their valuation as established for the purposes of the state tax, and assessed in turn by the cities and towns as part of their direct tax on polls, real estate and tangible personal property. In 1920 the revenues of the counties of the state were as follows: County tax $4,644,356 2,364,164 $7,008,520 This sum is expended for highways and bridges, courts and registries and county buildings and institutions. Municipal Taxation. Each city or town receives from the state a distributive share of the state income tax and of the excise taxes upon business corporations, domestic and foreign, from public service corporations and trust companies. It also receives its share of the tax on national bank stock, miscellaneous revenue from various sources, such as license fees, interest on bank deposits, sale of property, special assessments and the like and in many instances revenue from public service enterprises, such as public water supply or gas or electric lighting plants. After ascertaining the amount required to be raised for municipal purposes and for the town's share of the state and county tax, and for assessments placed upon the town by the state for metropolitan parks and similar purposes, and deducting therefrom the estimated receipts from income and corporation taxes and miscellaneous revenue, the balance is raised by a direct tax upon all the taxable real estate and tangible personal property within the town at a rate fixed by dividing the aggregate valuation of such property by the amount to be raised. In 1920 the total amount required to be raised for maintenance and the requirements of the public debt and for assessments by the state, other than the state and county tax, in all the cities and towns of the state amounted to approximately $165,161,000. This amount was raised as follows: .... The amount distributed among the cities and towns on account of $ 16,400,000 15,261,000 Tax on polls and on real estate and tangible personal property.... 123,500,000 Miscellaneous revenue 10,000,000 165,161,000 This sum was expended in substantially the following proportions: The increase in taxation in this commonwealth in the last ten years is shown by the following table: Internal revenue taxes under authority of the United States collected in Massachusetts THE PROVISIONS OF THE GENERAL LAWS RELATING TO TAXATION CHAPTER 4 STATUTES Meaning of Certain Words in Construing Statutes SECTION 7. In construing statutes the following words shall have the meanings herein given, unless a contrary intention clearly appears. Third, "Assessor" shall include any selectman acting as assessor and any person chosen in accordance with law to perform the duties of an assessor. Thirty-fifth, "Valuation," as applied to a town, shall mean the valuation of such town as determined by the last preceding apportionment made for the purposes of the state tax. CHAPTER 6 CERTAIN OFFICERS UNDER THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL Board of Appeal SECTION 21. The state treasurer, the state auditor and a member of the council designated by the governor, shall constitute the board of appeal from decisions of the commissioner of corporations and taxation. CHAPTER 14 DEPARTMENT OF CORPORATIONS AND TAXATION This chapter provides for a department of corporations and taxation in charge of a commissioner and consisting of divisions, each under the charge of a director, the divisions authorized relating respectively to the income tax, corporations, inheri |