164 Wisconsin Academy of SciencesArts, and Letters. 
preliminary estimates were made by the governor apparently 
during most of the period. 1 No officer was charged with 
preparing estimates for expenses to be paid out of the terri¬ 
torial treasury. 
Since 1848 the secretary of state has been required to make 
detailed estimates of the expenses to be defrayed from the state 
treasury as a basis for the action of the legislature. 2 The 
secretary has based his estimate almost wholly upon the in¬ 
come received by the various departments during the preced¬ 
ing year, though recently the tax commission has recom¬ 
mended that all departments file preliminary estimates with 
him. 3 
II. The Various Systems of Taxation. 
Till recent years the general property tax has been the most 
important source of the state revenue, and legislation has been 
directed for the most part to this kind of taxation. But with 
the growth of the corporation tax, the general property tax 
has practically disappeared as a source of state revenue, and 
henceforth the central administration will be interested in this 
tax only in the control, which it has recently obtained, of the 
administration of taxation by the local authorities. The chief 
interest in state administration of taxes is now divided between 
the problems of this central control and the problems of the 
taxation of corporations. The minor sources of taxation have 
some interest on account of the peculiarities of their adminis¬ 
tration. 
1. The General Property Tax. 
A. The Levy of State Taxes. 
Of course the general property tax has been levied, in the 
usual sense of that word, only by the legislature, till 1845 a 
percentage on the gross amount of taxes assessed by each county, 
and since that time a territorial or state tax levied in each 
county with the county tax. 4 
iH. J. 1840-1, app., p. 85; C. J. 1842-3, app., pp. 49-53. 
2L. June 1848, p. 115, s. 10 (2): R. S. 1898, s. 144 (13); L. 1901, c. 368. 
sEspecially L. 1901, c. 97; Tax Comm. Rpt., 1903, pp. 243-4. 
4 Const. Art. 8, s. 5; L. 1837-8, No. 93; E. g., L. 1845, p. 1, s. 2. 
