X REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURE

There should be a definite and certain date for the levy, collec-
tion and payment into the treasury of all State taxes. At pres-
ent, it is perfectly legal to collect the bulk of the taxes in May
and June and not cover them into the treasury until September
15th, and as a matter of fact in one county this is done, while the
Comptroller is powerless to enforce any demand in the mean-
time.

TRADERS' LICENSE.

The revenue derived from this source is far short o± what it
should be, although there is shown a slight increase over the year
previous, lu this connection allow me to quote from my report
of 1913, as made to the General Assembly of Maryland, session
of 1914

'The Legislature of 1858, by Chapter 414. fixed the schedule
of tradi'rs licenses as follows

How unjust and unfair would any assessment be, if it re-
iimmed unchanged for 55 years And yet that is just what this
State has done Math reference to the above schedule. During
that time several general assessments of real and personal prop-
erty have been made to the end that our assessable basis has
quadrupled. The above schedule represented, I am sure, at the
time of itb adoption an equitable ratio of values, but those values
have very materially changed Department stores and large
combinations of capital hi trading were then unknown, but who
will say that today $40,000 represents the fair basis upon which
many traders should pay when their capital rims mto the mil-
lions! This matter was brought to the attention of the Legisla-
ture of 1910. but oppositionwas strong enough to defeat the bill
in the Senate after having been passed by the House. There was

LICENSES	CAPITAL	LICENSE FEE
		12 MONTHS
Traders Female	$500 00	$6 00
Traders	1,000 00	12 00
	1,500 00	15 00
	2,500 00	18 00
	4,000 00	22 00
	6,000 00	30 00
	8,000 00	40 00
	10,000 00	50 00
	15,000 00	65 00
	20,000 00	80 00
	30,000 00	100 00
	40,000 00	125 00
Exceeding	40,000 00	150 00