Preferential Assessment of Farmland in the Rural-Urban Fringe of Maryland

U. S. Department of Agriculture surveys show that in recent years, taxes on farmland in communities affected by suburban developments have averaged at least twice as high as on farms outside this zone of influence, and that the former have been increasing about twice as rapidly as the latter. The study reported here is concerned primarily with the effects of the preferential assessment law in use since 1956 in Maryland. Its purpose is to study the legal history of the law, to examine its effects on assessed values of farmland and on farm taxes, and to consider the administrative aspects of a policy of preferential assessment.