State Supervision of Local Fiscal Officers in Virginia

One of the achievements of the brilliant administration of Harry F. Byrd was the segregation of the sources of revenue. The governor was quite sincere and enthusiastic in his support of this principle, believing, it seemed, that it was the panacea for a great many of our tax troubles. His exuberant enthusiasm caused him to make an error, many believe, when he had written into the rather inflexible constitution of the commonwealth the provision that no state tax shall be levied on real estate and tangible personal property. The state, therefore, no longer has any interest in this kind of property, and its supervision over local fiscal officers extends only so far as they are agents of the state, assessing and collecting the state's revenue.Each county and city has a local commissioner of the revenue, elected by the people, who assesses for the state intangible personal property, individual incomes, and money and capital, and who assesses for the local government tangible personal property, machinery and tools, and merchants' capital. The state tax commissioner has forms printed and sent to each local commissioner on which all the items mentioned above are supposed to be listed at their fair market value by the taxpayer. Mr. Morrissett, the present state tax commissioner, has inaugurated a plan of holding annual conventions of commissioners of the revenue where the problem of assessment and the complications of the state tax code are discussed.