Opinion ID: 1944996
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Provisions of the Maryland Declaration of Rights

Text: The appellants contend that the subsection of the statute is unconstitutional under Articles 15, 23 and 36 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Article 15 provides that all taxes for the support of the state and local governments shall be uniform. Article 23 states that no man shall be deprived of life, liberty or property except by the law of the land, which, this Court has held, is the equivalent of due process of law. Article 36 deals with religious freedom; it provides, in part, that no person ought to be compelled to maintain or contribute to maintain any place of worship or any ministry. This Court has consistently recognized the power of the legislature to grant full exemptions from taxation when reasonable and for a public purpose. State Tax Com'n. v. Gales, 222 Md. 543, 548-550, 161 A.2d 676 (1960) and authorities therein cited. When made for such a purpose and uniformly applied, the exemption does not violate Article 15 of the Declaration of Rights (even before the 1915 amendment when uniformity was required with regard to assessment as well as with regard to tax rates) or due process of law under Article 23. National Can Corp. v. Tax Com'n., 220 Md. 418, 153 A.2d 287 (1959); State Tax Com'n. v. Gales, supra. See also Armco Steel Corp. v. State Dept. of Assessments and Taxation, 236 Md. 168, 175-176, 202 A.2d 741 (1964). Williams v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, 289 U.S. 36, 41 (1933) involved the validity of a Maryland statute under which the property of a particular railroad was made exempt from taxation. The cities of Baltimore and Annapolis challenged the validity of the exemption. The District Court upheld the validity of the statutory exemption, the Circuit Court reversed, and the Supreme Court reversed the Circuit Court. In delivering the Supreme Court's opinion, Mr. Justice Cardozo held that the municipal corporations, being creations of the state, were without standing to invoke the protection of the federal Constitution but that the statute was valid under Article 15 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. He said: The courts of Maryland hold that the rule of uniformity established by these provisions does not forbid the creation of reasonable exemptions in furtherance of the public good    It does not even prohibit an exemption in favor of an individual as distinguished from one for the benefit of the members of a class. All that it exacts in respect of the narrower exemption is the presense of a relation, fairly discernible, between the good of the individual and the good of the community. General tax exemptions for property dedicated to religious uses have long been regarded in Maryland as reasonable and for a public purpose. The Chancellor succinctly gave the history of tax exemption of houses of worship in Maryland as follows: An exemption from taxation similar to that granted by Section 9(4) has existed in Maryland since the State began the general taxation of real estate by the Act of 1797, Chapter 89, passed on January 20, 1798. The exemption in that Act was: `except property belonging to the State or the United States, houses for public worship, burying grounds   '. This basic exemption has continued in each tax statute adopted in Maryland since the original Act of 1797, Chapter 89 until the present time. Concurrently with this continuous exemption, Maryland has had in effect another measure, Article 38 of the Declaration of Rights, directed to the separation of church and state. That Article requires the sanction of the General Assembly for any gift, sale or devise of land for the support or benefit of any Religious Sect, Order or Denomination   ; except always, any sale, gift, lease or devise of any quantity of land, not exceeding five acres,    for a house of worship, a parsonage, or burying ground. In Vansant v. Roberts, 3 Md. 119, 128-29 (1852), the Court considered the purpose of this Article. Judge Mason, for the Court, said: The 34th section of the Bill of Rights is analogous to the British statutes of mortmain, which were introduced to check or prevent ecclesiastics from accumulating in perpetuity, in mortua manu, or hands that never die, the lands or property of the kingdom, and thereby withdrawing them from public and feudal charges. This provision in our Bill of Rights, was designed for the protection or benefit of the people of Maryland from similar evils,    In 1948, by constitutional amendment, Article 38 was changed so as not to require the sanction of the General Assembly to a gift, sale or devise to a religious organization, but the legislature was given the right to require such sanction by statute. While the ownership of land by a religious organization has been consistently circumscribed by constitutional provision, therefore, gifts or devises for houses of worship and parsonages have been permitted, in the same Article, without legislative sanction. Baltimore City v. Starr Church, 106 Md. 281, 286, 67 Atl. 261 (1907) held that a special act of the legislature granting exemption for a specific property owned by a church of one denomination was unconstitutional, because it violated Article 15 of the Declaration of Rights and Article III, Section 33 of the Maryland Constitution. However, Judge Rogers, for the Court, had this to say as to the validity of the statutory exemption from taxation of houses used for public worship: It will not be denied at this late day that the Legislature has the power, within reasonable limits, to exempt certain species or classes of property from taxation, when the public interests so require. This is actually done in the case of houses used exclusively for public worship, and the grounds appurtenant thereto, in the case of graveyards and cemeteries, and in the case of hospitals, asylums and benevolent institutions. (Code, 1904, Art. 81, sec. 4). The validity of provisions of this kind is too well established to be now questioned. But it will be perceived in these cases all the property of the class indicated is exempted. The Legislature does not exempt some houses of public worship and tax others. It does not exempt some graveyards and cemeteries, some hospitals, and then tax other properties of exactly the same kind. It does not arbitrarily say that this particular house of public worship shall be exempt, but that one shall be taxed. On the contrary, all property falling within any one of the classes mentioned in Sec. 4, is exempt. There is therefore no arbitrary discrimination between different properties of the same kind, but all are treated alike. Occasionally a dictum, when it strikes a note resonant with accepted legal principle, becomes as important as the actual decision. This has been the case in Starr. The statement quoted has been cited with approval as late as State Tax Com'n. v. Gales, supra. The exemption here involved violates no provision of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.