136 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

Q. Governor, have you received recommendations from other gover-
nors in addition to Mr. Romney?

A. I said something to Mr. Reagan when I was with him in Wash-*
ington at the President's meeting, and I have received a letter indi-
cating that he is preparing to submit some names to me. I haven't
received any actual names from him yet.

Q. Governor, in view of the State's increasing role as a tax collector
for the cities and counties and the inevitable protest over the increase
of the taxes, do you think we may ever come to a law linking the two
divisions in their real estate taxes?

A. I've always been of the opinion that the real property tax becomes
oppressive when it reaches more than 2 1/2 to 3 percent of actual
valuation of the property. This opinion was not arrived at on my own.
It seems to be a consensus of the best thinking among the municipal
bond experts in other cities, those who are charged with setting the
policy in these matters. I would think someday we may have to re-
strict the property tax, although I think reforms of the nature which
we just completed here would make that necessity not so imminent
because, as you have heard Mr. Benton say and the Mayor say, they
are going to use the new broad-based tax on income as a replacement
for the usual heavy increase in the property tax. Now, there has been
a great deal said about the withholding of this new tax and how op-
pressive it's going to be to Baltimore City residents. I think it's im-
portant for the people to remember that it's not the immediate impact
of the tax which they should look most carefully at, but its overall
effect on how much more they pay at the end of the year. Certainly,
we don't want to burden them with too much withholding and every
effort will be made, as the Comptroller, Mr. Goldstein, indicated yes-
terday, to keep the catch-up withholding down to the lowest possible
limit. However, it's important to remember that about 80 percent of
the people in Baltimore City are going to be paying less taxes under
the new tax plan than they paid under the old. And it's important to
remember that the benefits of no property tax increase, of the nature
that Baltimore City had to enact last year and the year before, will
be possible this year only because we have a tax reform. So the ten-
dency of people to immediately compare what they are paying out
in increased withholding with what they used to pay out in with-
holding should be looked at very carefully. They should remember,
and maybe take a look at, last year's property tax bill in the City and
see what they paid out in that and compare it with what, if anything,
more they have to pay out this year in property taxes.