The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-06-03
ANOTHER MESSAGE
 ON TAXATION LAW
Governor Reiterates Decla- ation of Necessity for Re
 form in System

Boston, June 3.-In a. special mes sage to the Legisl ature, Gov. Floss re- l iterates his previous declaration that 1 there is urgent need of revision in the | ton.
 His message, which was accompan- l jed by the report of his expert with
 reference to the department of the
 commissioner of corporations and tax l commissioner, follows:
 1 I transmit herewith a report by | Harvey D. Chase on the departm ent
 of the commissioner of corporations | and tax commissioner.
 In this department there are four principal functions; namely those or the commissioner of corporations, tax | commissioner. supervision Of asses Sor9 and inheritance taxation. MT. Chase reviews the work of the | six commissions which have studied the tax problem during the past IT years. Although little has been done as result of these commissions, it seems obvious that the difficulty Hes partly with the law which does not empower the tax commissioner to compel local boards of assessors to do their duty, and which does not l provide adequate penalty for the eva sion of law in certain instances. Par tlcularly as regards legacies. penal ties for the evasion of taxation need to be strengthened and 2. petition to
 
 Is now before the Legislature. In the supervision of local assessors the com iss1Oner may now, under the law, inspect the work of the asses- sors and advise them. He can rec ommend but cannot enforce a just valuation. In the taxation of real and personal property the law re- qufres that the assessors of towns and cities shall make a fair ca sh val uation of all property. real and per Cnr7o iol IS notorious fact that this is not commonly done. Assessors are sub Jected to all sorts of influence and pressure and are thus drawn away from an impartial discharge of their duty. Moreover, large tracts of real property are undoubtedly assessed at far too low a valuation, and great quantities of personal property escape taxation altogether.
 Hence, there is the most urgent neeed of revision in the existing law There should be a real supervision of local assessors by the commonwealth and l renew my recommendation that the tax commissioner be provided with the necessary means for nak- ing thorough investigation of meth ods of enforcing and improving our taxation laws in order to secure just and equal taxation.
 Coming now to the so-caIled voluu- tary associations, the liability of their III leulD CTS IS not clearly defined. and no penalty is placed if such assocfa- tions fail to file with the commission CT a copy of their trust agreement. Moreover, the latter Is not ernpow- cred to compel the filing of such agreement. In conformity with the recommendation which I made in my inauguration message, the tax conn missioner has been authorized by the Legislature to investigate such asso- citations to determine their legal sta tus, and whether or not it is advisable to control them by law or to prof1fb- it their existence.
 MT. Chase finds that the present quarters of the tax commissioner are crowded, and I trust that the pend ing investigation of office accoTnuoo- dations in the State House may show a method of remedying this difficult ty by redistributing some of the space that is not now utilized in the State House.
 I approve the annual appropriation of S80,000 for the tax comm nissioner,s department, which is mainly for the payment of necessary salaries. as I am convinced that the unsatisfactory condition of taxation matters in this state arises in large part from fuaJ- equate legislation and not from a fau1- ty organization of the commission CTS office.