ADDRESS, MARYLAND ASSOCIATION OF
ASSESSING OFFICERS

OCEAN CITY
August 30, 1962

I am highly honored to be here again at another summer conference
of the Maryland Association of Assessing Officers.

As the Governor of this State—the officer primarily responsible for the
fiscal operation of your State government—I should like to pay tribute
to you as individuals for the aid you have given me in my effort to give
the people of Maryland a financially sound and financially responsible
administration.

Our State has made remarkable advances during the past few years
toward the goal of more uniformity in tax assessments, and this achieve-
ment, which is of especial importance in view of the distribution of State
funds to the twenty-three counties and Baltimore City for health, educa-
tion and welfare, is in a large measure attributable to the splendid
work you have done.

The lack of uniformity among our subdivisions in the assessment of
property for taxing purposes has been of grave concern to all of us, and
it is gratifying to me to observe the progress that has been made since I
took office nearly four years ago. Our goal of uniformity is a distant one,
and we recognize the practical impossibility of one-hundred-per-cent
uniformity. But that should not deter us in our determination to move
forward in that direction as far as possible.

In a 1959 report by the Legislative Council's Committee on Taxation
and Fiscal Affairs, the problem was stated in these words:

"... As a practical matter, exact uniformity of assessment ratios
among the twenty-four political subdivisions never has been achieved,
never will be achieved and never can be achieved. "

"On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that the assess-
ment ratios of Baltimore City and the counties can be brought within
a range of a few percentage points—and held there. "

The Committee that year, with the full support of my Administration,
embarked upon a program to promote legislation and administrative
action by the State Tax Commission to bring about the greatest possible
uniformity over a period of years.

A significant step in that direction was taken during my first year in

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