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The post of Comptroller was created in the 1838 Constitution and implemented with statehood in 1845. The Comptroller succeeded the Territorial Auditor of Public Accounts and assumed the duties as the state's chief fiscal officer. The Comptroller's Office examined, audited, and settled all accounts, claims, and demands against the state. It supervised banking institutions, sale of securities, and collection of revenue and taxes. The Comptroller wrote warrants for payment against the state treasury and compiled annual reports for the Governor and Legislature on state expenditures and trust funds.
The duties of the Comptroller's Office were transferred to the Dept. of Banking and Finance in 1969 (Ch. 69-106, Laws), with the Comptroller serving as the head of the department. On January 7, 2003, the Office of Comptroller was combined with the Office of Treasurer to form a Chief Financial Officer position heading the newly formed Department of Financial Services. This consolidated the two offices and the departments of Banking and Finance and Insurance.
Summary:
The series contains different types of revenue records maintained by the Comptroller's Office, 1841-1906. It documents the various duties of the Comptroller as collector of revenues. One volume contains the tax records for the freedman common school fund, 1866-1868, showing the collection of a poll tax from freedmen. Another volume is remissions of fines and forfeitures, 1849-1853, from the clerks of the circuit courts. It lists the county, person's name, date and amount of fine, date remitted, and terms of remission. The last volume contains revenue reports of the county clerks and auctioneers, 1875-1883. It lists the county and its tax collector; date money was sent and received; amount of taxes collected; and when it was paid into the treasury. The county clerks also reported license revenues, listing the county and clerk reporting, to whom debited, the date, and the amount filed. Finally, it contains the county auctioneer taxes, listing the county, the auctioneer, the name of the tax collector in the county to whom the auctioneer paid his taxes, and the total amount paid.
The series includes the county tax collectors' reports to the Board of County Commissioners and the Comptroller, listing tax exceptions, which name the taxpayer, date, county, assessor, and reasons for not requiring the standard tax, such as insolvencies, double assessments, overcharges, and reductions. Also included are the records of the county public auctioneers, who acted at all public sales, except those which involved common or chancery law decrees, property of the county or state, or any estate except when asked to by the administrator of a will.
It also contains the sheriffs' records of the collection of license taxes for commercial establishments, except hawkers and peddlers. The taxes was first paid to the sheriff who issued a receipt that specified the owner of the establishment, the business and its property, the date the license was issued and its duration, and the amount of tax paid. There are also record showing the court taxes collected by the clerk of the court to pay salaries and defray costs. Listed are the entry of pleas and the court fees paid in civil actions.
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Taxation Florida Finance, Public Florida African Americans History 1863-1877. Florida
for detailed listing.