Grand Family Laundry v. Mayor of Baltimore

Constable, J., delivered the opinion of the Court-. The appellant brought this appeal froni the action of the Baltimore City Court which affirmed the action of the State Tax Conn mission of Maryland, which, upon appeal to it, affirmed the assessment of the Appeal Tax Court of Baltimore City upon its refusal to abate taxes from the appellant’s machinery, which, as its name implies, is engaged solely in the laundry business. The appellant is one of twelve laundries of Baltimore which are attempting to be relieved from the payment of taxes upon their apparatus by Chapter 561 of the Acts of 1916. The Legislature by Chapter 32 of the Acts of 1912, now codified under sub-paragraph (C), sub-title “Abatement to encourage manufacture” of paragraph 28, title “Taxes/’ of the new Charter of Baltimore City,—Revised Edition, 1915, whereby it gave power and authority to the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore “to provide by general ordinance, whenever it shall seem expedient for the encouragement of the growth and development of manufactories and manufacturing industry in the said city, for the abatement of any or all taxes levied by the authority of the said Mayor and Council of the City of Baltimore or by ordinance thereof, for any of the corporate uses thereof, upon any or all personal property, of every description owned by any individual, firm or corporation in said city and property subject to valuation and taxation therein, including mechanical tools or implements, whether worked by hand or steam or other motive power, machinery, manufacturing apparatus or engines, raw materials on hand, stock in trade, bills receivable, and business credits of every kind, whill said personal property shall be actually employed or ¹⁰¹ used in the business of manufacturing in said city; provided that such abatement shall be extended to all parties, firms and corporations engaged in the branches of manufacturing industry proposed to be benefited by any ordinance passed under the provisions of this paragraph of this section, etc.” The Mayor and City Council pursuant to this power and authority expressly given to them by the above Act enacted on July 6, 1912, Ordinance Flo. 140, which is practically the same