University of Virginia Library

TAXATION OF STUDENTS

The Board approved the following statement for release to the Press

The Board of Visitors of the University meeting today considered the unprecedented situation
created as the result of action by local officials directed toward the exaction of taxes levied
on tangible personal property owned by University students

The Board requested Mr. W. Allan Perkins, Charlottesville attorney and counsel for the
University, to examine the problem and give his opinion respecting the legality of the proposed action.
Mr. Perkins was also requested by the Board to arrange for the presentation of a test case
or cases, which might result in the correction of erroneous assessments levied pursuant to the presently
announced policies of tax collecting officers in Albemarle County

The Board went on record in sharp criticism of the policy now being followed. It authorized
a statement to the effect that, regardless of technical questions revolving around residence and
ownership of tangible personal property and the situs of such property for tax purposes, the Board
deplored this effort at tax exaction as hostile to the long range interests of Albemarle County, Charlottesville
and the University community in general. The Board considered it significant that, according
to information published in the Cavalier Daily of December 9th, tax enforcement officials in
other educational communities throughout the State have no such conception of their duties as those
apparently entertained by the local officials, and that in this community the present policy is now
conceived for the first time in the history of the University, although the statutes now controlling
have been in effect for many years

The Board was especially critical of what it termed ill-advised and intemperate threats of
jail imprisonment allegedly made by one Albemarle County official

The Board expressed hope for the reversal of a policy which it regards as unwise and unfair
to the University students and the University community