Chap. 147.—An ACT to create a State tax commission; to prescribe its powers
and duties ; to provide for a chairman thereof to be known as the State tax
commissioner; to create local boards of equalization of assessments of prop-
erty for purposes of taxation in each county and city; to prescribe the
powers and duties of such boards; to prescribe penalties; and to repeal an
act entitled an act to create local board of equalization of assessments of
real estate for purposes of taxation in each county and city of the Common-
wealth; to define the powers and duties of such boards; to fix the com-
pensation of their members; to create a State tax commission; to define its
powers and duties; to fix the compensation of its members; to appropriate
money to carry out the provisions of this act; to prescribe penalties for the
violation of the provisions of this act, and to repeal sections 2213, 2214,
2215 and 2216 of the Code of Virginia, approved March 20, 1924, and to
repeal Code section 2397 as heretofore amended. {S B 72]

Approved March 16, 1926.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, as follows:

1. A commission is hereby created to be known as the State tax
commission, which shall consist of the governor and auditor of public
accounts, ex-officio, and one member to be quadrennially appointed
by the governor, subject to confirmation by the general assembly,
if in session when such appointment is made and if not in session then
at its next succeeding session. The first appointment hereunder shall
be made as soon as practicable after this act takes effect. The ap-
pointive member shall be the chairman of the commission and shall
be known as the State tax commissioner. He shall devote his full
time to his duties and shall receive such annual compensation for his
services as may be fixed by the governor for the purpose, payable out
of the appropriation made to the State tax commission. The State
tax commissioner may be removed from office at any time by the
governor. Vacancies occurring in the office shall be filled for the un-
expired term by the governor, subject to confirmation by the senate
at its next succeeding session. No person shall be appointed State tax
commissioner unless he be a person of proved executive ability and
knowledge of taxation. Before entering upon the discharge of his
duties, the State tax commissioner shall take an oath that he will
faithfully and honestly execute the duties of the office during his con-
tinuance therein, and he shall give bond in such penalty as may be
fixed by the governor conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his
duties, the premium on which bond shall be paid out of the moneys
appropriated to maintain the State tax commission.

2. Two members of the State tax commission shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of all business. The commission shall
have the power to employ and remove such clerks and other assist-
ants as may from time to time be necessary, to prescribe their duties
and to fix their compensation; provided, that the total expenditures
of the commission shall not exceed the amount appropriated by law.
The commission shall have,the authority to purchase all necessary
furniture and supplies, and have all necessary printing and publish-
ing done, and secure all telephone and telegraph service necessary to
the efficient discharge of its duties, and the same shall be paid out of
the fund appropriated therefor; provided, however, that all printing,
binding and ruling necessary for the commission shall be done by the
superintendent of public printing on its order, to be paid out of the
general printing fund.

3. The office of the commission shall be in the city of Richmond
and suitable rooms shall be provided for it in the State office building
by the governor. But the commission may hold sessions and one or
more members may conduct investigations and hearings at any other
place when necessary to the proper performance of the duties pre-
scribed by law; and members of the commission and its employees
shall receive from the State the amount of their actual necessary ex-
penses while absent from Richmond, on the business of the commis-
sion, such expenses to be sworn to by the person incurring them, and
approved by the chairman of the commission.

4. In addition to the powers and duties conferred by law on the
State tax board, it shall be the duty of the State tax commission, and
it shall have the power and authority:

(1) To supervise the administration of the assessment and tax
laws of this State, insofar as they relate to subjects of taxation taxed
by the State for State purposes, with a view to ascertaining the best
methods of reaching all.such property, of effecting equitable assess-
ments, and of avoiding conflicts and duplication of taxation of the
same property; and to recommend to the governor and the general
assembly such measures as will promote uniform assessments, just
rates, and harmony and co-operation among all officials connected
with the revenue system of the State.

(2) To exercise general supervision over all public officers so far
as the duties of such officers pertain to State revenues; and it shall be
the duty of the commission to confer with, instruct, and advise all
such public officers in the performance of their duties to the extent
stated, and to investigate at any time the assessment and collection
of State taxes in any county or city, and when the assessment is found
unreasonable and unjust; to take steps to correct the same in the
manner provided by law; and to institute proceedings by motion in
writing in the proper court, or before the judge of such court in vaca-
tion, for the removal or suspension of commissioners of the reve-
nue for incompetency, neglect or other official misconduct; and to
order the auditor of public accounts to withhold compensation from
any commissioner of the revenue who wilfully fails to comply with any
lawful instruction of the commission, until such commissioner com-
plies with such instruction.

(3) To prescribe the forms of books and schedules to be used in
the assessment and collection of State taxes, and to call for and pre-
scribe the forms of such statistical reports, notices and other papers
as the said commission may deem necessary to the proper adminis-
tration of the law, and to prescribe and install a uniform system of
accounts to be used by State revenue officials.

(4) To direct such proceedings, actions and prosecutions to be
instituted as may be needful to enforce the revenue laws of the State,
and to call on the attorney general, or other proper officer, to prose-
cute such actions and proceedings.

(5) To intervene, by petition or otherwise, whenever deemed ad-
visable in any action or proceeding pending in any court wherein the
constitutionality or construction of any State tax or revenue statute
or the validity of any State tax is in question; and the court wherein
such action or proceeding is pending may, by order entered therein,
make the commission a party thereto whenever deemed necessary.

(6) Upon request by any local board of equalization, or any ten
citizens and taxpayers of the locality, but only upon such request,
to render advisory aid and assistance to such board in the matter of
equalizing the assessments of real estate and tangible personal prop-
erty as among property owners of the locality.

(7) To make a report of its proceedings and recommendations
to the governor on or before the first day of November preceding a
regular session of the general assembly, and the governor shall cause
copies of said report to be printed, one of which copies he shall cause
to be sent to each member of the general assembly at least twenty
days before the beginning of a regular session.

All provisions of law relating to the State tax board, not hereto-
fore repealed or repealed by this act, shall apply to the State tax com-
misison.

5. The commission shall, in all matters within its jurisdiction,
have the power and authority to award and issue, have served and
executed and returned, any writ, notice, process, order or order of
publication which may by law be awarded, issued, served, executed,
or returned by or to any court of law or equity in this Commonwealth
for the purpose of compelling the attendance of witnesses, the pro-
duction of books and papers, and the enforcement and execution of
its findings, orders and judgments.

All writs, processes and orders of the commission shall run in the
name of the Commonwealth, shall be signed by the State tax com-
missioner as chairman of the commission, and shall be directed to
any sergeant, sheriff or constable of any county or city wherein such
writ, process or order is to be executed. All writs, notices, processes
or orders of the commission may be executed and returned in like
manner and upon like persons or property as the processes, writs,
notices or orders of the courts of record of this Commonwealth, and
when so served, executed and returned, shall have the same legal effect.
The officer serving or executing any writ, notice, process or order of
the commission shall receive the same fees allowed by law for like
services to sergeants and sheriffs of the counties and cities. Any
officer who shall fail to execute and return any writ, process, notice
or order of the commission shall be subject to the same penalties pro-
vided by law for the failure to execute and return the process of any
court, which penalties, after due notice to the officer so failing, may
be enforced by the judgment of the commission, which is hereby
clothed with power to carry this provision into effect.

The commission shall make such allowances for fees and mileage of
witnesses summoned before it as are allowed by law for witnesses
summoned by the Commonwealth in felony cases, to be paid out of
the funds at the disposal of the commission.

6. It shall be unlawful for any member or ex-member of the com-
mission, or for any assessor or commissioner of the revenue, or for any
employee or agent of the commission, to divulge any information ac-
quired by him in respect to the transactions, property, income or
business of any person, firm or corporation while in the performance
of his duties under this act. Any violation of the provisions of this
section shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars
or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or by both; provided,
however, that the governor may at any time, by written order, direct
that any information herein referred to shall be made public or be laid
before any court; and, provided, further, that this inhibition does not
extend to any matters required by law to be entered on any public
assessment roll or book. |

7. The circuit court of each county, or the judge thereof in va-
cation, and the corporation or hustings court of each city, or the judge
thereof in vacation, shall, whenever so petitioned in any year by the
board of supervisors or ten taxpayers of the county, or the council
of the city, as the case may be, create and appoint for such county or
city a local board of equalization of assessments to be composed of
three members, who shall be selected by the court of judge from the
citizens of such county or city. Provided that not more than two
members of said local board of equalization of assessments shall be
members of the same political party, excepting in those counties and
cities where at the presidential election last preceding the appoint-
ment of such board, the majority party in the State cast more than
sixty (60) per cent of the total vote in such county or city. The
members of each board of equalization shall serve until July first next
following their appointment. Any vacancy occurring in such board
of equalization shall be filled for the unexpired term by the authority
making the original appointment. Members of the board of equali-
zation shall receive per diem compensation for services to be fixed
by the board of supervisors of the county or the council of the city,
as the case may be, and paid out of the local treasury. As soon after
their appointment as practicable they shall meet and organize by
electing one of their members as chairman and another as secretary.

Each local board of equalization may employ necessary clerical
and other assistants and fix their compensation, subject to the ap-
proval of the board of supervisors of the county or the council of the
city, as the case may be. Such compensation shall be paid out of
the local treasury. ; ,

8. It shall be the duty of commissioner of the revenue of each
locality having a local board of equalization annually to deliver to
the chairman of the board of equalization the land and property books
as soon as completed, and thereupon each local board of equalization
shall sit for such length of time as may be necessary to discharge the
duties imposed and to exercise the powers conferred by this act. Of
each annual sitting reasonable public notice shall be given beforehand
by publication in a newspaper having general circulation in the county
or city, and, in a county, by also posting the notice at the courthouse
and three or more public places. Such notice shall inform the public
that the board shall sit at the place and on the days named therein for
the purpose of hearing all complaints of inequality of tax assessments of
real estate and tangible personal property as among the residents
and property-owners of the locality. The board shall hear and give
consideration to such complaints and equalize such assessments and
shall moreover equalize the assessments whether specific complaints
be laid before it or not. In the year of a general re-assessment of real
estate and in the year immediately following such assessment, each
local board shall devote special attention to grievances and complaints
with regard to the assessment of real estate and direct such corrections
on the land books with reference thereto as may be determined; in
all other years it shall make no changes in real estate assessments,
save and except of lands, lots or improvements not previously as-
sessed.

9. Any taxpayer may apply to the local board of equalization for
the correction of his assessment; and any county or city through its
appointed representative or attorney may apply to the local board
of equalization to increase the assessment of any taxpayer. The
board shall hear and determine any and all such petitions and may
increase, decrease or affirm the assessment of which complaint is
made; and it may increase or decrease any assessment upon its own
motion; provided, however, that no assessment shall be increased
until after the owner of the property has been notified and given an
opportunity to show cause against such increase, unless such owner
has already been fully heard. In all such hearings the officers who
made the assessments shall, if possible, be present and testify.

The attorney for the county, city or town, or any taxpayer, ag-
grieved by any such order, may apply to the circuit court of the
county or the corporation court of the city, or to the circuit court of
any city which has no other court of record, for the correction of any
erroneous assessment, either as to over or under-valuation, in the same
manner as is provided by law for the correction of erroneous assess-
ments of property by any person who is aggrieved thereby.

Nothing contained in this act shall prevent a county, city or, town,
or a taxpayer from applying directly to the court for the correction of
erroneous assessments of taxes and levies without first applying to
the local board of equalization.

The board shall have power to direct the commissioner of the reve-
nue to enter upon the books property which is found to have been
omitted, and to cancel duplicate assessments of the same.

The board shall keep minutes of its meetings, and enter therein
all orders made and transmit promptly copies of such orders as relate
to the increase or decrease of assessments to the taxpayer, commis-
sioner of the revenue, and attorney for the county, city or town.
And if the order, or orders, of the board provide for an increase of the
assessed value of the property of any taxpayer, the commissioner of
the revenue shall make a supplemental assessment for the increased
value or values and shall note the change on his books; and if the
order of the board provides for a decrease of the assessed value of the
property of any taxpayer, he shall note such decrease on his books.

No order made by said board shall prevent the taxpayer, or mem-
ber or members of a board of supervisors, board of supervisors, mem-
ber or members of a city or town council, city or town council or any
other governing board of any city or town, from applying to the
proper court for correction of any erroneous assessment in the man-
ner provided by law.

10. Such board shall have authority to summon taxpayers or
their agents or any person, firm, or officers of a company or corpora-
tion, to furnish information relating to the real estate and other prop-
erty subject to local taxation of any and all taxpayers, and to sum-
mon taxpayers or their agents, or any person, firm, or officer of a
company or corporation, to answer, under oath, all questions touch-
ing the ownership and value of real estate and other property subject
to local taxation of any and all taxpayers, and to summon taxpayers
or their agents, or any person, firm, or officer of a company or corpo-
ration, to bring before it their books of account or other papers and
records containing information with respect to the valuation of real
estate and other property subject to local taxation of the taxpayer or
any other real estate or property subject to local taxation within the
county or city under review by the board. Such summons may be
served in person or by registered mail.

Any person refusing to answer the summons of the local board of
equalization, or to furnish information, or to produce his books of
account, papers and other records, as required by this act, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be liable to a fine of not
less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, and each day’s
failure to answer such summons, or to furnish such information, or
to produce such books of account, papers and other records, shall
constitute a separate offense.

11. The information procured by local boards of equalization
under this chapter shall be regarded as confidential, except for the
purpose of assessments, and shall not be disclosed except to the State
tax commission or to some other local board of equalization or to off-
cers charged with the assessment or collection of taxes, or to a court
of record upon its order.

12. An act entitled an act to create local boards of equalization
of assessments of real estate for purposes of taxation in each county
and city of the Commonwealth; to define the powers and duties of
such boards; to fix the compensation of their members; to create a
State tax commission; to define its powers and duties; to fix the com-
pensation of its members; to appropriate money to carry out the
provisions of this act; to prescribe penalties for the violation of the
provisions of this act, and to repeal sections twenty-two hundred
and thirteen, twenty-two hundred and fourteen, twenty-two hundred
and fifteen and twenty-two hundred and sixteen of the Code of Vir-
ginia, approved March twentieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-
four, is hereby repealed.

Code section twenty-three hundred and ninety-seven as heretofore
amended is hereby repealed.

An emergency existing on account of the necessity of preparing
tax forms for nineteen hundred and twenty-six, this act shall be in
force from its passage.