In 1901, the General Assembly created the Office of the Tax Commissioner. It charged the Commissioner with inquiring into the assessment and collection of state and local taxes. It also granted the Commissioner power to summon and take testimony as part of an inquiry. The General Assembly also charged the Tax Department, over the years, with collecting various state taxes. By the 1950s, the office had expanded to include overseeing the inheritance, estate, and estate penalty taxes. In 1979 the Department became the Department of Revenue Services. Materials in this collection include administrative files, tax collections, legislative files, war contract renegotiations (1942-1944), personnel and payroll records, sales tax permits, and airline taxes. Various units including the Sales and Use Tax Division, Excise Division, Municipal Division, Inheritance Tax Division, as well as the Office of the Commissioner, created these records.
