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to the people just eight years ago they
voted for it approximately three to one, to
permit different or differing classifications
of land.
DELEGATE CASE: That is correct.
DELEGATE SYBERT: After that the
Alsop case, the one test case laid down in
that constitutional amendment, said that
is bona fide. Possibly the words were that
the land being actively devoted to farm or
agricultural use was the only criteria that
the assessing authority could apply.
DELEGATE CASE: That is correct.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: For what rea-
son then does the Committee recommend
scrapping the action of the people eight
years ago in permitting or requiring as-
sessment as farmland if it is actively de-
voted to farm use? What is the theory?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Case.
DELEGATE CASE: We prefer the
words "gently modifying," rather than
"scrapping" the words of the people.
The reason for it, as I have suggested
before, is that as the law now stands, the
law being the Constitutional amendment
of Articles 15 and 18 of the Declaration of
Rights as interpreted by the Alsop case
permits people, namely real estate specu-
lators for whom this particular provision
was never designed to reap tremendous
benefits.
The Committee felt that this was wrong.
We felt that it was wrong for a number of
reasons.
First and most importantly, the propo-
nent of the constitutional amendment him-
self suggested to us that lie never intended
the result which came out of the Alsop
case.
Secondly, if you read Article 18 you will
see that it does use the word "may," and
also you will conclude with me that al-
though I believe you sat on that case, that
the Court might have reached a different
result. Certainly a lot of people thought
it was going to reach a different result.
Thirdly, it is my considered judgment
that the people in voting did not intend to
confer benefits upon land speculators
through the guise of a farm tax assess-
ment. All of the literature at that time,
including the editorials in the Baltimore
Sun and the News Post — I did not read
the ones in the Washington papers — were
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directed toward helping the legitimate
farmer, the man who makes his living by
working the land.
Now, this is what we are trying to do,
and by the same token, we are trying to
give the administrative officers of the State
the tools to prevent the land speculator
from making a bonanza in an area in which
he should not participate.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Will it not also
have the effect of hamstringing the legiti-
mate developers who, to stay in business,
must look forward and purchase available
land, often years before the time comes for
them to develop it in the normal course of
their business? Will it not also have the
effect of —
DELEGATE CASE: I could answer that
very quickly, Delegate Sybert. I do not
know whether it would hamstring them or
not, but I could not care less. They are
able to take care of themselves. We are not
worrying about developers or people who
buy large chunks of land and put it aside
to make a future profit. What we are talk-
ing about is a bona fide, legitimate farmer.
DELEGATE SYBERT: Will this change
not also have the effect of making develop-
ers develop sooner than they ordinarily
would, and thereby destroy by that much
time the open spaces that everyone in the
neighborhood has theretofore enjoyed?
DELEGATE CASE: No. What it will
have an effect on, if it has any effect, it
will preclude the developers from going out
and snapping up the land at the present
time. They will let the farmer continue to
use it, and when the farmer can continue to
use it at the use type assessment, then the
desired result, which the Committee seeks
to accomplish, has been achieved.
I do not see why we should encourage a
developer to go and buy farmland.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions to the Committee Chairman?
Delegate Lloyd Taylor.
DELEGATE L. TAYLOR: You have
given special consideration to the agricul-
tural uses of the land. I wonder if your
Committee has given any consideration to
some of the problems in urban areas; for
instance, you have many real estate com-
panies buying lots of apartment houses,
say in the cities and large urban areas, and
after buying this large area of land, many
times they let the property deteriorate, and
in this way they avoid paying high taxes.
And, of course, in Baltimore City where I
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