12 REPORT OF THE COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY

State after being collected by the State. The counties and incor-
porated towns of the State will be receiving more of the State in-
come tax in the future because of changes made in the income tax
law.

The most important change in the State's revenue picture is
caused by the enactment of the Sales Tax Law at the 1947 session
of the General Assembly. The administration of the law was assigned
to the State Comptroller. The law became effective July 1, 1947.
It was necessary to organize a separate division of the Comptroller's
Office to administer the law. This new division has been set up in
Baltimore and at this time has been in operation two months, al-
though it was necessary soon after adjournment of the Legislature
to begin work of organizing the division and being ready for busi-
ness on the date the law became operative. The experience to
date both from the standpoint of administering the law and the
revenue received has been satisfactory. I believe we have been able
to work out the problems encountered with a minimum of annoy-
ance and inconvenience to the various individuals and others en-
gaged in business, and the returns from the tax thus far have indi-
cated that the estimates of revenue from the tax made at the time
the legislation was pending in the Legislature were conservative
and will undoubtedly exceed the estimates to an appreciable extent.

CONCLUSION

The statements which follow are intended to present a complete
picture of the State's fiscal operations and I trust you will find them
very informative. However, I should be very glad to have you ask
for an explanation of anything which might not be entirely clear
to you or for any further information you desire.

Respectfully submitted,

JAMES J. LACY,

Comptroller.