10,899

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tax exemption which the B&0 Railroad has and which we feel

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it itself must put in jeopardy soon in order to comply

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with its merger agreement.

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Consequently, therefore, with that rather

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involved and convoluted background, which is nothing

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more than a history of an attempt to regularize the B&0

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Railroad and to remove the exemption which it has, which

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no one else has -- and this has, by the way, been reflected

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in putting only a 20 per cent gross receipts tax upon

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the B&0 as compared to the hundred per cent that others

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pay -- that is to say a one-half of one per cent as

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compared to two and a half per cent which other railroads

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pay -- but this generally has been a history of whittling

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down on that exemption and trying to do something about it.

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The State of Maryland regrets that it ever

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did it, but the B&0 Railroad has had the advantage of

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it to this day, and so we would urge keeping it in order to

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keep alive the hope in the heart of the State of Maryland

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that it will kill the B&0 exemption and exemptions

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of like character some day.

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THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any questions of the