64 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

every program and agency of State government to justify its existence,
to develop measures of cost, production, effectiveness and efficiency,
and to assure full value to the taxpayers of Maryland.

I believe that the extra cost to the government in employing men
of talent and ability to see this work through will be repaid many
times to the State, and in the final analysis will represent an invest-
ment and not a cost to the taxpaying public.

Similar modern management studies have been conducted in some
other states with significant results. After subjecting the State ad-
ministration to intensive scrutiny, initial savings of $25 million were
achieved in the State of New York, $50 million in the State of Ohio,
and $60 million in the State of Washington. This does not even take
into consideration the expanded services, modernized programs and
improved efficiency of operation that were additional dividends from
an investment which in the long run proved negligible.

Our case, my friends, is new — and nobody understands this more
clearly than those enlightened Democrats and Republicans who, under
the chairmanship of Senator Harry Hughes, have provided a realistic
and workable blueprint for tax reform in our State. This is by far the
most significant piece of legislation to be considered by the new As-
sembly, since on its passage our progress as a State and a people
depends.

The reasons for tax reform have been told many times but they
should be repeated again if only for the benefit of those who have
innocently misunderstood the concept, or who have deliberately turned
off their hearing mechanisms at the very mention of the unloved
word "tax. "

Tax reform is essential; its need immediate! Present revenues are
simply not sufficient to meet the vital requirements of State and local
governments in Maryland. The obligation for paying the cost of
government services is not being shared fairly by the people of our
State.

Rather than take up your time with every detail and statistic of
what is proposed and why, let us examine the problem in reverse and
ask: What happens if we don't pass a tax reform bill? What happens
if we stand pat with the present system?

Let's look at it in that light and make the comparison point by
point.