ceipts of certain classes of corporations, and distilled spirits. Greatly
enlarged jurisdiction and responsibilities were conferred upon the State
Tax Commission by the act creating it and by subsequent legislation.
In addition to the duties formerly exercised by the State Tax Commis-
sioner, the Commission is empowered to "supervise the administration
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 assess-
ment at least once in every five years," but not necessarily by reassess-
ment of all property in the same year; to act as an appellate tribunal
to which all appeals from assessments of real and personal property
made by local assessing bodies must be taken; to assess the operating
property, except land, of railroads and other public utilities and con-
tract 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 ap-
pointed 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 paid by the respective counties and are graded according
to the aggregate value of property assessed in the county. A super-
visor is also appointed for Baltimore City with important duties of
investigation.

Under the provisions of Chapter 717 of the Acts of 1943, a continuous
assessment plan was adopted, whereby permanent assessors are estab-
lished to review for reassessment all property in each county in Mary-
land once in every five years. The law requires that one fifth of each
county be reviewed each year, whereas it had been the practice to re-
view the whole county in the fifth year The supervisor of assessments
is the chief assessor in the county and acts as such over the local
assessors. 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.

The State Tax Commission has charge of the qualification and or
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, Chapter 387 of the Acts of
1939 requires the Commission, beginning with the year 1940, to assess
the tangible personal property of foreign corporations and distribute
the assessment to the localities in which the property is located. This
law transfers the jurisdiction to tax such property from the local
taxing authorities to the State Tax Commission. Charters and amend-
ments to charters of domestic corporations are filed with, and re-
corded and approved by, the Commission. In its jurisdiction over
foreign corporations the Commission succeeds the Secretary of State;
while in passing on appeals from assessments locally made, and on
certificates of incorporation, it exercises functions formerly performed
by the courts.

Under the income tax law, the Commission was given appellate
jurisdiction to hear all appeals from the final action of the Comp-
troller. The determination of the Commission is prima facie evidence
of the amount of the tax due, but an appeal to the courts lies from
the finding of the Commission in the manner now provided for on
appeals from said Commission in the exercise of its appellate juris-