104 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

it's not the business of the entire State to be certain that those counties
receive the assistance necessary that they may prosper and be helped
economically until they can again assume on their own the burden
of providing minimal standards of service to their citizens?

The Maryland Constitution demands that Maryland provide for
every child a system of free public education, and certainly we want
the education in Maryland to be competitive and exemplary when
compared with all the other states of the Union. These things are
necessary and because of that a system of equalization, a system of
helping each other, must be developed to help meet our needs. This
plan does that, but it restricts equalization to two fields: the fields of
education and police protection.

Now, there were many of you who objected to the old Cooper-
Hughes plan because to be equalized under it, or sent from a richer
subdivision to a poorer subdivision, was anything a city or county saw
fit to spend money on. And some of you said, "We in Garrett County
are not interested in what Baltimore City pays its administrators,
that's their business. We may be interested in children and what we
have to do to help them receive minimal standards, but we're not in-
terested in recreation or the flourishes that the City may think are
necessary. "

Our plan has cured those objections. Our plan has made it pos-
sible that the money that is flowing from a richer county to a poorer
county is specifically designated for two fields that nobody could pos-
sibly quarrel with. We all know we've got to provide good education
for our children and we all know we've got to provide a safe place
in our city so that travelers and those of us who move from place to
place will not be molested. I believe that the plan as amended, and
incidentally it hasn't been amended at all in these respects, is a good
plan for all of Maryland, to help us grow and flourish as a State.

Now let's go back, as I promised earlier, and take a look at exactly
how this plan affects you as an individual.

First of all let's look at the chart which makes a comparison of the

present income tax structure with the proposed. If you're making

$3, 000 a year gross income you pay no present tax and you would pay
no tax under the new plan. If your gross income annually is |5, 000
your present tax at the 3 percent flat rate would be $39. 00. Your new
tax under the Lee amendment would be |35. 00, making a net change
of minus $4. 00 in your favor. If your income is $7, 000 your present
tax is |93. 00 and the new tax on income is $114. 00, for a $17. 00 in-