Ibid, sec. 4. sec. 1. Exemptions.* 1888, art. 81, sec. 4. 1860, art. 81, sec. 3. 1841, ch. 23. 1904, ch. 460. 1906, ch. 464. 1914, ch. 528, sec. 4. 4. The provisions of this sub-title shall not apply to any bonds or stocks or evidences of indebtedness issued by the United States belonging to residents of this State, nor to any property in this State belonging to the United States, or to this State, or to any county of this State, or incorporated city or town in this State, nor to the real or personal property owned and acquired by fire insurance salvage corps of Balti There are local laws which provide for "Abatements to encourage manufactures," and of which the most important is the following, namely, Chapter 561 of the Acts of 1916: "Abatements to Encourage Manufactures" of paragraph (28), title "Taxes," of the New Charter of Baltimore City, Revised Edition, 1915, be, and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted with amendments so as to read as follows: Abatements to Encourage Manufactures-To provide by general ordinance, whenever it shall seem expedient for the encouragement of the growth and development of manufactures and manufacturing industry in the said city, for the abatement of any or all taxes levied by authority of the said Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, or by ordinance thereof, for any of the corporate uses thereof, upon any or all personal property of every description owned by any individual, firm or corporation in said city, and property subject to valuation and taxation therein, including mechanical tools or implements, whether worked by hand or steam or other motive power, machinery, manufacturing apparatus or engines, raw materials on hand, stock in trade, bills receivable, and business credits of every kind, which said personal property shall be actually employed or used in the business of manufacturing in said city; provided that such abatement shall be extended to all persons, firms and corporations engaged in the branches of manufacturing industry proposed to be benefited by any ordinance passed under the provisions of this paragraph of this section. Any taxes sɔ abated shall be deducted from the taxes payable upon the capital stock, taxable in said city, of manufacturing corporations, incorporated under the laws of the State of Maryland and located in said city; but nothing herein contained shall affect in any way the taxes that are now or may hereafter be payable by law to the State of Maryland or any of the counties or municipalities of the State on the capital stock of manufacturing corporations, incorporated under the laws of this State and located in Baltimore City. It shall be the duty of the Appeal Tax Court to make such abatement of taxes, levied as aforesaid, as may be authorized and directed by ordinance, as aforesaid; provided that application for suc abatement as aforesaid shall be made by the party applying for the same before the annual revision and correction of the tax lists for the year in which said applicant desires such abatement, but it shall not be necessary for the ap plicant to renew his application from year to year. Said application shall be verified to the satisfaction of said court by the oath of the party applying for the same or other satisfactory evidence. Said Court shall further keep a record of ali abatements made by it as aforesaid and report in writing the aggregate amount thereof to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore on or before the 15th day of October in each year. And provided further, that laundry machinery, when employed or used in the business of laundrying, shall be classed as manufacturing within the purposes of this sub-paragraph. more in pursuance of the Act of 1888, Chapter 72, section 2, nor to any judgment rendered by any Court of record or justice of the peace, nor to houses or buildings used exculsively for public worship, nor to the furniture contained therein, nor to the parsonage connected therewith, nor to the grounds appurtenant to such houses, nor to buildings so exclusively used for public worship or as parsonages which are necessary for the respective uses thereof, nor shall the provisions of this sub-title apply to graveyards, cemeteries or cemetery company which do not accumulate profits for any purpose except for the maintenance or improvement of such cemeteries or graveyards as cemeteries or graveyards, nor to burying grounds set apart for the use of any family or belonging to any church or congregation, nor to crops or produce of any land in the hands of the producer or his agent, nor to provisions and feed kept for the use and consumption of the family of the person to whom such provisions and feed shall belong, nor to the working tools of mechanics or artisans, moved or worked exclusively by hand, nor to the first three hundred dollars in value of the farming implements of any farmer, nor to wearing apparel of any description except diamonds and other costly jewelry not habitually worn on the person, nor to fish while in the possession of fishermen employed in catching, salting and packing the same, or while in possession of their agents unsold, nor to buildings, equipments and furniture of hospitals, asylums, charitable or benevolent institutions or to the grounds ap purtenant thereto in any city or incorporated town of this State which are necessary to the respective uses thereof, nor to the buildings, equipments and furniture of hospitals, asylums, charitable institutions of any county in this State, but not within any city or incorporated town of this State, nor to the ground not exceeding forty acres appurtenant respectively thereto, which are necessary for the respective uses thereof, nor to buildings, furniture, equipment or libraries of incorporated educational or literary institutions, or to the ground ap purtenant thereto, in any city or incorporated town of this State which are necessary to the respective uses thereof, nor to the buildings, equipments furniture of hospitals, asylums, charitable or benevolent institutions of any county in this State, but not within any incorporated city or town of this State, nor to the ground not exceeding forty acres appurtenant respectively thereto which are necessary for the respective uses thereof, nor to the buildings, furniture, equipment or libraries of incorporated educational or literary institution or to the grounds appurtenant thereto in any city or incorporated town of this State which are necessary for the respective uses thereof, nor to the buildings, equipment or libraries of incorporated educational or literary institutions in any county of this State, nor to the ground not exceeding forty acres appurtenant thereto which are necessary for the respective uses thereof, nor to the personal property of any corporation by this State, and having capital stock divided into shares when said shares of said corporation are subject to taxation under the laws of this State and when such personal property is returned for the pur pose of valuing in the valuation of the shares, nor to the tools, machinery, manufacturing implements and engines of corporations, firms and individuals engaged in manufacturing as provided for in Section 164 as amended by this Act, nor to the shares of stock of railroad companies working their roads by steam power, incorporated by or under the laws of this State which are subject to taxation upon their gross receipts within this State, and to county and municipal taxation upon their respective real and personal property in the respective counties and cities of this State, in which such respective properties are located, nor to the book accounts or bills receivable or evidences of debt given for such accounts of any person engaged in commercial business who is taxed upon the fair average value of his stock or goods, wares and merchandise; and every person engaged in commercial business shall be taxed upon the fair average value of his stock in such business during the year preceding the assessment upon which such tax is levied; and each and every one of said exemptions from taxation shall be strictly construed.* "It will not be denied at this late date that the Legislature has the power within reasonable limits to exempt certain species or classes of property from taxation where the public interest so requires (p. 286). Not only is it unlawful for the Legislature to exempt one man's property and tax another of exactly the same kind, but the Legislature may not impose a tax upon the property of one person at one rate and upon the property of another at a different 1914, ch. 43, sec. 4a. 4A. For the year nineteen hundred and fourteen and thereafter all bonds, stock, certificates of indebtedness or other obligations in whatsoever form hereafter to be issued by the State of Maryland, or by the county, city or municipal corporation or other political sub-division of this State, either under a law heretofore passed or under a law hereafter to be passed, and all bonds, stock, certificates of indebtedness or other obligations in whatsoever form heretofore issued by any county or municipal corporation of this State and which, prior to the passage of this Act, have been sold under terms rendering such county, city or municipal corporation liable for the State tax thereon on behalf of the holders, shall be exempt from taxation for State, county, municipal and other local purposes; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive corporations of the credits, deductions and allowances on their shares provided for in Section 163 of Article 81 of Bagby's Code of Public Civil Laws, which shall continue to be allowed to the same extent as if all of the stock debt of this State upon which, but for the passage of this Act, the State tax would have been deducted by the Treasurer, and all of the stock debt of the City of Baltimore on which, but for the passage of this Act, the State taxes would have been paid, or payable by said city, had continued subject respectively to said deductions or payments of taxes without any change hereby. 1914, ch. 43, sec. 2. 4B. This act shall take effect from date of its passage, and all acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 1910, ch. 446. 5. To obtain the exemption from taxation allowed in Section 4 of this Article, the owner or owners of a graveyard or cemetery which do not accumulate profits for any purpose exrate. A fortiori the Legislature could not tax the revenue-producing property of all churches except one, and for this prescribe not a different rate, but no rate at all; in other words, an exemption. *** The State has full power to exempt any class of property as it may deem best, according to its views of public policy" (287). Baltimore vs. Starr Church, 106 Md. 281. The amendment of 1914 does not apply to any assessment prior to those to be made in 1915. See the Act of 1914, ch. 528. cept for the maintenance or improvement of such cemetery or graveyard shall apply to the County Commissioners of the county in which such cemetery or graveyard may be located by a written petition, signed and sworn to by such owner or owners, in which petition shall be stated a brief history of the land or lands composing such cemetery or graveyard, the condition of the titles thereto, from whom obtained, at what price bought and upon what terms, and the particulars of the ownership of such land or lands, and its or their value or values for five years prior to its or their conversion into a cemetery or graveyard; and no such exemption from taxation shall be al lowed by said County Commissioners unless they be satisfied that the land or lands included in such cemetery or graveyard has been acquired for the purpose of a cemetery or graveyard at its or their fair value, and that the formation of such cemetery or graveyard was a bona fide public purpose and neither directly or indirectly involved a profit to the organizer or organizers thereof.* Mode of Valuation and Assessment. 1841, ch. 23, Ibid, sec. 7. 1888, art. 81, sec. 6. 1860, art. 81, sec. 7. 8. Every assessor appointed by the mayor and City Council of Baltimore and every collector of State and county taxes in this State shall annually inform himself by all lawful means of all property, stocks or investments in his county, district or city liable to taxation and which may have been omitted in the assessment, and all buildings and improvements, and all property created or acquired since said assessment, and shall value the same at the full cash value thereof, and shall make return thereof to the County Commissioners or Appeal Tax Court, if in the City of Baltimore; and for the purposes of this section, the said collectors and assessors are hereby clothed with the powers of general assessors, and their vauation shall be subject to revision and correction by the County Commissioners and Appeal Tax Court * Sections 6 and 7 are of no application. † See sections pertaining to "State Tax Commission," namely, sections 233 to 246. inclusive, of this Article. Sections 9 to 17, inclusive, are of no application. |