public to accept the tax program along with the measure for the
improvement of our educational system.

For some reason, not easy to explain, the basic question of a new
program of public education became lost in the murk of a controversy
over the financial aspects of the plan. In the turmoil over the tax,
a bewildered public all but forgot what they were being called upon
to pay for. I have said before, and I repeat here, that never before
in my long experience have I seen a piece of legislation so widely
misunderstood and so badly misrepresented as has been this tax
legislation. It is hard for me to believe that some of the misrepresenta-
tion was not deliberate. Repeatedly, during the legislative session and
since, I tried to explain, to the best of my ability, that if the revenue
picture improved to a point that additional taxes are no needed to
finance the education program and other services, I will be the first
to propose a reduction or repeal of the additional tax, which as you
know does not take effect until next January 1. It was as my sugges-
tion that the original tax bill was amended to grant the Board of
Public Works authority to grant tax tax credits to the individual
taxpayers in the event the revenues were not needed.

In effect, that amendment granted the Board authority to reduce
the tax. And, when a court ruled that provision unconstitutional, I
announced publicly that I will call a special session of the Legislature
to reduce or repeal the tax if a revised statement of revenues by the
Board of Revenue Estimates indicates the revenues are not needed
to keep the budget in balance. I don't know how I could have stated
a position more clearly than I have stated that. And yet, for some
unexplainable reason, a doubt seems to remain in the minds of some
of the people that such action will be taken.

Let me say that the revenue picture looks bright at this time.
Maryland, with the rest of the nation, is enjoying a period of un-
precedented prosperity. It is, the economists say, the longest period
of continuing rise in economy that our country has ever experienced.
Under these circumstances, I can say that it is altogether likely that
the next statement of revenues, which I expect within a few weeks,
will show that the additional tax can be reduced or repealed. No
Marylander will be more pleased than I if that is the case, and none
will be more insistent upon prompt action than I will be.

We have an excellent program of public education in Maryland,
and we will support it regardless of the financial implications. An
illustrious American journalist, Walter Lippman, has written:

"We must measure our educational effort as we do our military

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