166 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts , and Letters. 
a. The Development of the State Tax Commission. —The first 
board of equalization consisted of the governor, secretary of 
state, state treasurer, attorney general, and state superintend¬ 
ent, 1 the lieutenant governor and bank comptroller being 
added two years later. 2 Beginning with 1858, for the next 
fifteen years the board was composed of the state senate and 
secretary of state. 8 This change was induced partly because 
of the dissatisfaction with the data available for the use of the 
board in the returns from the counties, and partly by the ‘ 1 anti¬ 
republican” nature of the old board. The results of the change 
seem generally to have been bad. Bings were formed in the 
senate, and much logrolling took place to the great detriment of 
some sections. 4 Hence in 1873 a board composed of stale 
officers was again established, the state board of assessment, 3 
consisting of the secretary of state, state treasurer, and attorney 
general. 6 This board was replaced by the present commissioners 
of taxation in 1901. 
The commission, the direct outgrowth of the tax commission 
of 1897~8 (an investigating body), was established in 1899, “in 
order to secure improved taxation within the state.” 7 It 
consists of the commissioner, first assistant commissioner, and 
second assistant commissioner, all appointed by the governor 
with the consent of the senate, all known to the governor “to 
possess knowledge of the subject of taxation and skill in matters 
pertaining thereto,” and serving ten years from 1899. Neither 
the commissioner nor the assistants nor any clerk in the office 
is permitted to “hold any other office or position of trust or 
iL. 1852, c. 498, s. 1. 
2L. 1854, c. 73, s. 1 
3L. 1858, c. 115, s. 26. 
4S. J. I860, pp. 817-8; Wis. State Journal, Mar. 12, 1860; April 7, 23, 
May 5, 1868; Secy. State Rept. 1868, pp. 38-9; S. Proc. in Wis. State 
Journal, Feb. 4, 1874; Wis. (Weekly) State Journal, Dec. 10, 1878. 
5 The former board had been known as the Board of Assessors since 
1870. (L. 1870, c. 144, s. 1.) 
6L. 1873, c. 235. 
7L. 1897, c. 340; Tax Comm. Rpt., 1897-8, p. 182; Wis. State Jour¬ 
nal, April 18, 1899. 
