Marvin Mandel, Governor                          1149

(e) Real property which was exempted from ordinary taxation
by any provision of this article prior to the effective date of this
section and which is exempted after the effective date of this section
shall have a period of twenty-four months from the effective date of
this section to make the application required by subsection (a) of
this section.

15.

[(a) Stock in business.] The stock in business of every person,
firm or corporation engaged in any manufacturing or commercial
business in this State shall be valued and assessed to the owner thereof
on the date of finality as its fair average value for the twelve months
preceding the date of finality. The term fair average value as used in
this section shall mean cost or market value, whichever is lower, with-
out any allowance for inflation. In the computation of the fair average
value of the stock in business of registered motor vehicle dealers, the
value of used motor vehicles, titled in Maryland and taken in
trade by such dealers as partial payments on the purchase of other
motor vehicles, shall be excluded.

[(b) City of Frederick.—Provided, however, that for municipal
taxation in the City of Frederick such stock in business shall be
assessed at seventy-five per centum (75%) of such fair average
value for the twelve months preceding the date of finality.

(b-1) Canned or frozen foodstuffs stored by processor in ware-
house in Caroline County.—For county taxation in Caroline County,
the County Commissioners thereof may, by resolution or ordinance,
prescribe the percentage of assessment, if any, for foodstuffs proc-
essed for human consumption by canning or freezing which are
stored in any warehouse by the processor for distribution, packaging
or labeling.

(b-2) Stock in business, raw materials on hand and manufactured
products in hands of manufacturer in Carroll County.—Over a ten-
year period beginning in the year 1965, and only for purposes of
county taxation, the Board of County Commissioners of Carroll
County by resolution and in regular progression may change the man-
ner of valuing and assessing the stock in business, raw materials on
hand, and manufactured products in the hands of the manufacturer of
every person, firm, or corporation engaged in Carroll County in any
manufacturing or commercial business prior to January 1,1965. The
valuation and assessment at a ratio of sixty per centum (60%) of fair
average value under subsection (d) of this section, or other valuation
and assessment, as of the beginning of the ten-year period, shall be
diminished in equal ratios for each of the ten years, until at the end
of the ten-year period, and thereafter, such stock in business, raw
materials on hand, and manufactured products in the hands of the
manufacturer are entirely exempt from valuation and assessment.

Also, and only for purposes of county taxation during 1965 and
thereafter, the Board of County Commissioners of Carroll County by
resolution may provide that the stock in business, raw materials on
hand, and manufactured products in the hands of the manufacturer
of every person, firm, or corporation first engaged in Carroll County
after January 1, 1965, in any manufacturing or commercial business,
be entirely exempt from valuation and assessment; provided, how-
ever, that this exemption shall not apply to a person, firm or corpora-