2"4

Under the old method of assessment of corporate shares, it hap-
pened that many corporations had investments in real estate which
equaled the aggregate valuation of the shares of such corporations,
and the State Tax Commissioner properly determined that such cor-
porations were not subject to any net assessment on shares, but only
on their assessments of real property. According to the present
records, the Commission assessed corporations of the following
numbers:

Ordinary business corporations............... 2,757

Corporations subject to assessment on shares... 339
Corporations subject to the 1% bank tax........ 181

Building and Loan Associations............... 580

Non-stock corporations ........................ 25

Assessments against warehousemen and custo-
dians of distilled spirits.................... 28

Assessments against savings banks on account
of savings deposits......................... 45

Assessments of gross receipts of corporations... 136

Elsewhere in this report the Commission has pointed out
changes that should be made in the Act termed "Ordinary Business
Corporation Act." The Commission recommends that the Act shoitld
be amended in order that ambiguities now existing therein may be
removed. The theory of this Act was to provide for the assessment
of the tangible personal assets of corporations, and also to require
the payment of a franchise tax, based on the amount of the capital
stock actually issued, which is an innovation in the financial system
of Maryland. While there is a discrepancy, undoubtedly, in the
amount of the taxes actually collected by the Comptroller of the
State, it appears from our records that the total amount levied as
franchise tax against all corporations amounts to the sum of
f 107,150. Probably some corporations, properly within the classifi-
cation of ordinary business corporations, that are required to pay
the tax, should be relieved therefrom.

The intention of the Legislature, as is manifest from an exami-
nation of Article 81, Section 4 (the exemption section), is that cer-
tain classes should be exempt from taxation, and here we refer par-
ticularly to incorporated schools, hospitals and the like. The sub-