sure that governors and legislators want to give the people the full value
of all the money they collect in taxes.
It is our responsibility, as public officials, not only to see that they get
the full value of all the money they spend in taxes, but also to explain
to them just how and just where they are getting it.
ADDRESS, FOURTH ANNUAL CHURCHMEN'S
LEGISLATIVE SEMINAR
ANNAPOLIS
February 10, 1965
Dr. Bell, members of the Maryland Council of Churches, distin-
guished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Let me begin by offering my congratulations to the Maryland Council
of Churches for sponsoring the annual seminars in which the leaders
of the religious community of Maryland undertake to learn more about
the legislative processes and legislative matters pending in our General
Assembly. I deeply appreciate the invitation I received to come here
today and assure you that I consider it a high privilege to be able
to speak to such a distinguished group.
For the time allotted to me here, I thought it might be appropriate
that we discuss some aspects of the budget which the General As-
sembly now has under consideration. In many respects, the preparation
of a budget is one of the heaviest of the responsibilities of my office.
It involves, of course, the planning of expenditures and revenues
of the State government. Preparing a budget for the government of
three and a half million people, representing an annual expenditure
of three-quarters of a billion dollars, means finding the right answers
to a great number of plaguing and perplexing questions. What services
do the people want? What services do the people need? How much
will they cost? How much do the people want to pay for them? How
much can they afford to pay for them? How is the money to be
raised to pay for them?
It is a characteristic of human beings to want as much as they can
get for as little as possible. We like as many services from government
as possible but paying taxes is distasteful to all of us. And yet, it is
perfectly obvious that government cannot function without revenues—
that government can no more provide goods and services free of charge
than can the private individual.
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