MARYLAND 
Modified Assessment Law.! 
Optional. Enacted 1963. 
Annotated Code Art. 66C, Sec. 411%; 
Art. 81, Sec. 19(d). 
Classification 
Qualification. Any contiguous tract of land 
comprising 5 acres or more which the Department 
of Forests and Parks agrees to place within its 
program of forest conservation and management 
is eligible for classification. 
Procedure. The owner applies to the Depart- 
ment for inclusion of the tract within the program. 
A contract is entered into between the owner and 
the Department for such period and subject to 
such conditions as may be provided. The county 
supervisor of assessments is notified of lands to be 
assessed in accordance with this provision. 
Conditions governing continued classification. 
The owner must observe the terms of the contract. 
Contracts may be assigned to the buyer of all or 
a portion of the tract; if the buyer assumes the 
obligations of the contract, no revised assessment, 
referred to below, is required. 
Declassification 
This is effected (1) by termination of the con- 
1 Known asa part of the Forest Conservation and Manage- 
ment Program. 
tract, (2) at the time part or all of the timber is 
harvested, unless under the direction of the De- 
partment, or (3) at the time part or all of the tract 
is conveyed to a new owner, whichever first occurs. 
Upon declassification the tract is revalued; if the 
new value is greater than the value at time of 
entry, the difference between the two is computed 
in approximately equal annual steps covering the 
elapsed years. At time of conveyance of the tract 
or harvest of timber the seller owes a revised tax 
computed on such annual increases payable at the 
tax rates applicable to the respective years. 
Tax treatment 
Land and timber. The assessed value of classi- 
fied land at time of entry is not to be increased for 
State, county, special district, or municipal taxes. 
Buildings, improvements and_ agricultural, 
mineral and other nonforest values remain sub- 
ject to property taxation without modification. 
Tax administration 
Collection.Taxes on classified lands are collected 
as are other property taxes. 
NEW JERSEY 
Modified Assessment Law.! 
Optional. Enacted 1964. 
Statutes Annotated Sees. 54.4-23.1 to .238. 
Classification 
Qualification. Tracts of not less than 5 acres 
actively devoted to agricultural use (defined to 
include the production for sale of trees and forest 
products) for the two immediately preceding 
years are eligible for classification. Provision is 
made for classification also of lands devoted to 
horticultural use. 
When contiguous land is located in more than 
one taxing district, compliance with the minimum 
area requirement is determined on the basis of 
the total area and not that in a particular district. 
Land under barns, sheds and like structures, lakes, 
ponds, streams, dams and similar facilities is in- 
cluded in the minimum but not land used in con- 
nection with the farmhouse. 
Land is deemed to be actively devoted to agri- 
cultural use when the gross sales of agricultural 
products, including soil conservation payments, 
have averaged at least $500 per year over the past 
two years or there is clear evidence that such 
receipts will reach that figure within a reasonable 
time. 
1 Known as the ‘‘Farmland Assessment Act of 1964.” 
20 
Procedure. The owner must make application 
to the assessor on or before October 1st of each 
year. 
Conditions governing continued classification. 
The land must continue in agricultural use and 
there must be compliance with the other require- 
ments of the Act. 
Change of ownership does not lead to declas- 
sification if the new owner continues the land in 
agricultural use under conditions prescribed in 
the Act. 
Declassification 
When land is devoted to other than agricultural 
use it is declassified and roll-back taxes are im- 
posed. Such taxes are calculated as the difference 
between taxes payable under the Act and those 
which would have been payable had the land not 
been classified during the current and two pre- 
ceding years. Assessments used in calculating roll- 
back taxes are subject to review under the general 
statutes subject, however, to relaxation of certain 
time limitations. 
The taking of land by right of eminent domain 
does not lead to imposition of roll-back taxes. 
