If the DOR can compel an elected tax assessor to increase property values owned by the people who elected them it can — and should — mandate that every elected county tax collector abandon signed blank checks. Many counties have found ways to receive payment from tax sales without a signed blank check. Both the signed blank check requirement and the recent wave of sharp assessment increases fall within the purview of the DOR. Mississippi taxpayers deserve better than an office that aggressively raises property values while tolerating practices that any first-year accounting student would flag as reckless. Gregory E. Bingham is a retired CPA with nearly 20 years of Governmental and Not for Profit experience.