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LAWS OF MARYLAND

Ch. 8

GENERAL REVISOR'S NOTE TO ARTICLE:

Structure of the Article:

In organizing this revision of the tax laws of the State,
the Commission to Revise the Annotated Code decided to arrange
the tax laws in 2 articles, Tax - Property and Tax - General.
The Tax - Property Article is divided into 14 titles and
incorporates all of the provisions concerning the valuation and
assessment of real and personal property, the imposition of taxes
and exceptions to taxes, the granting of credits, the payment and
reporting requirements, and finally the procedural provisions.
Although there is a definite sequence from the valuation of
property through the appeal and penalty process, the Commission
decided to treat all of the steps in the process through the
point at which the tax is due in the appropriate substantive
title. Therefore, the Tax - Property Article is structured to
place the administrative provisions first, followed by the
substantive provisions and the procedural provisions. Title 14,
Procedures, includes all events that take place after normal
payment in full by the taxpayer, i.e., the enforcement, appeals,
interest, penalties, and collection provisions, as well as the
provisions related to tax sales, refunds, and limitations.

Terminology:

It is a precept of the Commission to Revise the Annotated
Code to revise the law in a clear, straightforward manner, and,
once something is said, to say it the same way every time it is
said. To that end, in revising this article, the Commission has
conformed the language and organization of this article to that
of other revised articles, to the extent that the former law
allowed.

Throughout the former law, the word "levy" was used in 4
different senses. It was used as a verb to mean imposing a tax
and setting a tax rate. As a noun "levy" was used to mean the
imposition of a tax and a lien against property. To avoid
confusion in this article, the more precise references to
"imposing" a tax, "setting" a tax rate, "imposition" of a tax,
and "lien" are used.

Throughout this article, where the former     law referred    to

the counties and Baltimore City, the reference   to Baltimore City

has been deleted as unnecessary in light of    the use of     the

defined term "county". Where the former    law referred    to

Baltimore City in a capacity other than as 1 of  this State's     24

counties, the revision retains the specific reference     to
Baltimore City.

Also throughout this article, for consistency and' to avoid
unnecessary confusion, the word "regulations" is substituted for
former references to "rules and regulations", the singular verb
"adopt" is used in relation to regulations, and verbs such as