PROGRAM OX TAX REFORM 101

the State Legislature. This, as advertised, is what we're calling the
"120 million dollar question. "

The plan is a tax revision coupled with a tax increase based on
estimates of State needs that have been compiled by four successive
commissions studying the problem. Ninety-five million dollars of this
money is not a tax increase. Ninety-five million dollars is to be routed
directly to the local governments, to the cities and the counties, for
the purpose of giving the cities and the counties a chance to meet
the local needs of education, police protection, fire protection and all
of the other necessities, so that they will not have to raise the property
tax in the exorbitant amounts that they've had to raise them recently.
Now, you all know that the property tax is bearing a great deal too
much of the burden of government. This is not my idea and it's not
the idea of the fiscal experts in Annapolis. It's the idea of the national
experts, of the bond rating agencies all over this country. They recog-
nize that the property tax ought not to be used as it has been used to
raise 90 percent of the cost of local government.

Our program, as a matter of fact not only our program but every
program that's been talked about in the Legislature this year, is
geared toward the idea of providing this $95 million to the cities and
counties to meet their local needs. Now, the $95 million will reduce
whatever the property tax would have to be increased next year by
that amount, and we'll get into that later on. The $25 million does
represent a tax increase. It represents the projected needs of the
State to service many vital things such as improvements to the correc-
tional system, to provide the State employees with sufficient pay in-
centives and overtime, to increase rates which now keep us from being
competitive and keep many vital jobs in the State service vacant. The
State is a competitor with industry and business and we cannot
efficiently administer our government unless we can meet the com-
petitive market in hiring people that can actively and accurately re-
flect the best type services for our state. This $25 million has been
said on many occasions to be necessary by people who are totally dis-
associated with the administration or with any other part of the
existing State government.

I point out to you again, and I emphasize, that $95 million of the
$120 million question is not a tax increase; it's a redistribution of
taxes, realignment of taxation, and I want you to remember that
that's true. Now, we're going to talk about the individual in this
regard very shortly, and when we get to the individual you'll see