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intended to make a reassessment of the entire State in a comprehen-
sive manner. The first of these notices was under date of March 26,
and notification was made in all cases before the levies were struck
for the year 1915.
Because of the failure of the County Commissioners in most of
1 he counties to provide the necessary means the Commission consid-
ered it unjust and eminently unfair to those counties which had
provided the means to make the reassessment while allowing other
counties which had not made provisions by means of appropriations
to benefit from the failure to do the thing requested of them. A
reassessment under these circumstances was inexpedient and
improper. Investigation has convinced the Commission that the
present assessment of property is unequal between adjoining coun-
ties and unequal between adjoining districts in the same counties,
and even between adjoining owners.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the assessment of prop-
erty in the cities and towns of Maryland. Many incorporated towns
have a municipal basis different in amount from the county basis.
The Commission has a complete record of the assessment of prop-
erty in these towns, and this record discloses the fact that there is
no uniformity in the assessment of the same property for the munic-
ipal or town purposes and the assessment for State and county pur-
poses. In some cases the town assessment is higher than the county
and State assessment and in other cases the State and county
assessment is higher than the municipal assessment. In most cases
it is higher for municipal purposes. The inconsistency is even
greater in cases of the assessments of the improvements. Town
property, without exception, is assessed higher for city and county
purposes in proportion to its value than property in other parts of
the county is assessed, even in those towns which have the same
basis for State and county purposes and for town purposes.
All doubt as to the power of the State Tax Commission to have
the County Commissioners provide for the expense of a reassess-
ment should be removed by legislative action, and such act of the
Legislature should also provide for compensation to the County
Commissioners for the additional work required of them in making
a reassessment, as otherwise they could not be paid for their serv-
ices. In any reassessment a general plan must be followed in each
of the counties. The assessment of property is a function of the
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