976                               LAWS OF MARYLAND                       [CH. 404

Annotated Code of Maryland (1957 Edition), title "Revenue and
Taxes," subtitle "Levy," to follow immediately after Section 34 there-
of, and to read as follows:

34A.

(a) Where the taxpayer is required to report personal property
in such detail as to show the cost or market value thereof, but the
taxpayer fails to report accurately the cost or other data required to
establish market value, and the property is assessed at a lower
valuation than it would have been had it been reported accurately,
that portion of the property as to which the cost or market value is
unreported shall be deemed to be escaped property.

(b) Such escaped property shall be assessed and there shall be
added thereto a penalty of twenty per cent (20%) of the assessment.
No penalty shall be added to the assessment, however, if the tax-
payer can show that the failure to report accurately the cost or mar-
ket value of the property was not the cause of the assessment of the

property at a lower valuation than it would have been had it been

reported accurately.

(B) THE ESCAPED PROPERTY SHALL BE ASSESSED;
AND IF IT IS DETERMINED THAT THE TAXPAYER FAILED
TO MAKE A FULL DISCLOSURE OF THE ACTUAL COST OR
MARKET VALUE OR OTHER DATA AND THE FAILURE TO
REPORT ACCURATELY WAS THE CAUSE OF THE ASSESS-
MENT OF SAID PROPERTY AT A LOWER VALUATION THAN
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD IT BEEN REPORTED ACCU-
RATELY, THERE SHALL BE ADDED THERETO, BY THE AS-
SESSING AUTHORITY, A PENALTY IN AN AMOUNT EQUAL
TO 20% OF THE VALUE OF THE ESCAPED PROPERTY.

(c) Notice of the assessment and of the penalty shall be made in
accordance with the provisions of Section 29 of this Article. Such
notice shall indicate separately the assessment on the escaped prop-
erty and the penalty thereon.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That Section 255(a) of said
Article of said Code, subtitle "Appeals," be and it is hereby repealed
and re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

255.

(a) With respect to any property assessed locally, any taxpayer,
or city, or the Attorney General or Department may demand a hear-
ing before the supervisor of assessments or the director of the depart-
ment of assessments of Baltimore City, as the case may be, or their
respectively designated representatives, as to the assessment of any
property or any unit of tax value, or as to the increase, reduction, or
abatement of any such assessment, or as to the classification thereof,
for the next ensuing year. Except as provided in Section 29 (f) of
this article, no demand for a hearing shall be granted under this sub-
section unless answer or protest to a notice as to assessments was
made, in the counties with the supervisor of assessments, or in Balti-
more City with the department of assessments, within twenty days
from the date of such notice, or unless application for revaluation or
reclassification as to an existing or proposed assessment was made in