G. L. c. 58 § 1-8] the establishment by a male resident not assessed for a poll tax of his right to be assessed and section 11 for the assessment and collection of a poll tax upon such a person. CHAPTER 56 VIOLATION OF ELECTION LAWS Penalty for False Entry by Assessor SECTION 1. An assessor or assistant assessor who knowingly enters on any list of assessed polls, or causes or allows to be entered thereon, the name of any person as a resident of a building, who is not a resident thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than six months. CHAPTER 58 GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATIVE TO TAXATION Supervision of Local Taxation Sections 1 to 8 inclusive relate to the supervision of local taxation by the commissioner of corporations and taxation.1 Section 1 gives the commissioner in general terms power to inspect the work of the local assessors and to require of them action which will tend to produce uniformity throughout the commonwealth in matters of assessment and valuation. It also authorizes him to furnish the local, assessors with printed instructions and blank forms; to prosecute them for violation of the tax laws, to appear before the county commissioners or the court when passing upon the abatement of taxes and to give his opinion to assessors and collectors or to obtain an opinion from the attorney general upon questions relating to the assessment and collection of taxes. Sections 2 and 3 require the commissioner to forward to the assessors lists of corporations liable to local taxation and all other information relative to assessment of property that has come into the possession of his department. Section 4 provides that when it appears that the failure of the assessors to value property in accordance with law is due to improper methods the commissioner shall direct them as to the proper methods, 1 As to the appointment of the commissioner and his subordinates sec G. L. c. 14, supra page 139. [G. L. c. 58 §§ 1-8 and on their failure to comply with his directions shall notify the mayor or the selectmen of their city or town. Section 5 provides that the commissioner shall give instructions for preparing notices in regard to bringing in lists of taxable property and prescribe forms for such lists; and section 6 provides that the commissioner may collect and tabulate information in regard to the sale price and actual value of real estate in the several towns. Section 7 provides that the commissioner shall secure information as to unpaid taxes and section 8 provides that when it appears that local taxes have not been collected within three years after the commitment of the warrant to the collector, or if collected have not been turned over to the town treasurer, he shall cause suit to be brought upon the collector's bond. The assessment and collection of local taxes was carried on by the local authorities until 1861 without any supervision or control from the state, and until 1898 the tax commissioner had little to do with the assessment of local taxes except in case of a conflict between the valuation by the local assessors of real estate and machinery of domestic corporations and his valuation of the same property as a deduction from the corporate franchise tax. In 1898 the tax commissioner was given power to visit any city or town within the commonwealth to inspect the work of the assessors and to advise them as to their duties. 3 In 1907 a commission on taxation was appointed and reported the need of greater uniformity in the administration and enforcement of the law throughout the commonwealth, and, as a result, in the following year the tax commissioner was given power to appoint three supervisors of assessors who were 2 See G. L. c. 59, § 74 infra page 303; c. 63, § 57, infra page 580. In 1861 provision was made for the furnishing of blank books with printed tables by the secretary of the commonwealth to be used in the assessment of taxes (St. 1861, c. 167, see new G. L. c. 59. § 45, infra page 243) and the assessors were required to file with the secretary tables of aggregates. In 1864 the assessors were required to file with the secretary of the commonwealth a statement of the cause of any diminution in the valuation of their town (St. 1864. c. 210, now G. L. c. 59, § 84, infra page 313). In 1865 the assessors were required to file with the tax commissioner a statement of the amount of taxes assessed during each year (St. 1855, c. 283). In 1874 the assessors were required to file with the tax commissioner a statement showing the amount of exempted property in their town (St. 1874. c. 227, now G. L. c. 59, § 86. infra page 313). In 1882 the tax commissioner was authorized to prescribe forms for lists of taxable property (St. 1882, c. 217, now G. L. c. 58, § 5, supra page 165). 3 Under c. 129 of the Resolves of 1907 G. L. c. 58 §§ 9, 10] to furnish the local assessors with information concerning taxable property within their jurisdiction and to direct the assessors to make such use of the information so furnished as the tax commissioner should deem necessary. The supervisors of assessors proved of great assistance to the local assessors, especially in the years prior to the enactment of the income tax law when the effort was being made to tax intangible personal property at its capital value, and their power to advise is still of importance; but the ultimate responsibility is with the assessors, and if they, notwithstanding the directions of the commissioner refuse to increase the valuation of any property, he has no means of compelling them to do so.* In 1912, as the result of the disclosure of lax methods of some local collectors in enforcing payment of taxes, the statutes now appearing as sections 7 and 8 were enacted. Apportionment of the State Tax SECTION 9 (as amended by St. 1921, chap. 379, § 1). In nineteen hundred and twenty-two and in every third year thereafter, the commissioner shall, on or before April first report to the general court an equalization and apportionment upon the several towns, of the number of polls, the amount of property, and the proportion of every one thousand dollars of state or county tax, including polls at one tenth of a mill each, which should be assessed upon each town. SECTION 10 (as amended by St. 1921, chap. 379, § 2). To aid in making the equalization and apportionment required by the preceding section, and to assist the general court to determine the amount of state tax to be imposed upon the several towns, the commissioner shall prepare and submit to the general court abstracts showing the amount of the corporate franchise value of domestic corporations, of the excise value as determined by the commissioner of domestic business and foreign corporations, and of the value of the shares of banks, the shares of which are subject to taxation under section one of chapter sixty-three, represented by the taxes distributed according to law to each town. He may require from state and town officers such further returns and statements relative to the amount and value of taxable property in the several towns as he deems necessary. He shall to the best of his judgment and discretion prepare said equalization and apportionment upon the basis of the 4 See also as to revision of valuation on recommendation of the commissioner, G. L. c. 59, § 76, infra page 306. [G. L. c. 58 §§ 9, 10 returns and statements provided for and authorized, and of any other information in his possession. He shall give notice of so much. of said equalization and apportionment as may be prepared upon the basis of such other information in his possession to the assessors of any town affected thereby, and upon their request shall give his reasons therefor, and such information as he may properly divulge. The state tax is actually assessed by an annual act of the legislature, the amount to be assessed being determined by deducting the estimated receipts of the commonwealth in the form of taxes on corporations, inheritance taxes and other sources, from the total appropriations made by the legislature and required to be expended during the year, the tax being commonly reckoned in even millions of dollars. The annual act of the legislature for the assessment of the state tax is thus what in parliamentary language is usually called a "deficiency bill." 1 The amount being thus determined, the proportion of each city or town is ascertained by reference to the latest triennial apportionment, the apportionment being prepared by the commissioner but enacted into law by the legislature. The annual statute apportioning the tax first assesses each city or town for its proportionate amount, then directs the treasurer of the commonwealth to send his warrant to the assessors of each city or town requiring them to assess the sum charged and add the same to their county, city or town taxes, and to pay or cause their respective city or town treasurers to pay the same to him, and provides for enforcement of the tax by warrant of distress against the cities or towns.3 The annual tax act is an inheritance from the provincial period, and statutes very similar in form to those enacted now 1 Providence Institution for Savings v. Boston, 101 Mass. 575, 589 (1869). 2 The latest apportionment prior to the publication of the present edition of this work was in 1919 (St. 1919, c. 343). This apportionment was notable as being the first to reflect the exclusion of intangible personal property from local taxation which resulted from the enactment of the income tax law in 1916. To determine the share of any city or town in the state tax of any year, the figure set against its name in the third column of the apportionment should be multiplied by as many thousands as there are million dollars in the state tax. Thus if the figure in the third column (headed "Tax of $1000 including polls at one tenth of a mill each") is $1.95 for a certain town and the total state tax is fourteen million dollars, the share of the town in question would be 14,000 X $1.95 or $27,300,00. See for example St. 1921, c. 492. G. L. c. 58 §§ 9,10] appeared every year among the provincial statutes. These statutes, however, authorized the assessment of local taxes as well as of the state tax and contained all the provisions for assessment, abatement and exemptions now found in the general laws. It was not until after the Revolution that any of these subjects began to be covered by permanent enactments; and the annual tax acts contained all the law on the subject of assessments until the Revised Statutes of 1836. Since that year the annual tax acts have related only to the state tax. Until comparatively recent times the apportionment of the state tax was based upon the aggregate valuations of the respective cities and towns as determined by their own boards of assessors, and until 1861 no provision was made for the assistance of the legislature in making the apportionment by any administrative officer. In 1861 provision was made for the furnishing of uniform assessment books to the local assessors by the secretary of the commonwealth, and for the publication of copies of such books by him when filled out and returned by the assessors, for the benefit of the legislature. In 1881 it was made the duty of the tax commissioner in every third year, by the use of such books and other returns as he might require, to prepare an apportionment and equalization for the purposes of the state tax. The state tax continued to be actually assessed and apportioned by an annual act of the legislature; but the legislature followed the tax commissioner's apportionment as a matter of course. Under this statute the duties of the tax commissioner were purely ministerial, and involved merely an arithmetical calculation, of which the valuation of the respective local assessors was the basis. It was charged however that the assessors of certain towns, for the purpose of reducing the share of their town in the state tax, intentionally undervalued the property which they asssessed, and in 1911 a statute was enacted to meet this abuse which provided that the tax commissioner might make the apportionment upon the basis of the assessors' returns "and of any other information in his possession." This statute com pletely changed the functions of the tax commissioner with 4 St. 1861, c. 167. |