LLOYD LOWNDES, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.

259

WHEREAS, The State tax of five and a-half cents on each
hundred dollars levied under existing law for the payment of
said Defense Redemption Loan at its maturity and of the
interest thereon in the meantime, produces annually far more
than is now needed for the purpose of paying the interest on
said loan and providing the sinking fund for the payment of
the principal when said bonds shall mature, and to the extent
of such excess is therefore unnecessary and unjust taxation ;
and

Preamble.

WHEREAS, In order to provide the funds necessary to meet
the expense to which the State will be subject for the purchase
of books for the use of the children of the public schools of this
State, it will be necessary to levy a special tax; and

Preamble.

WHEREAS, New loans have been created for the extension
of the Maryland Penitentiary and the second Hospital for the
Insane, to meet the interest and sinking funds for which a
special tax has been provided; and

Preamble.

WHEREAS, A State tax of three and one-eighth cents on the
hundred dollars, to be paid into the General Sinking Fund will
amply provide for the payment of the interest and principal
of the State debt now outstanding, and all of the demands
hereinbefore enumerated can be met without any increase of
the present rate of tax for State purposes; now, therefore.

Preamble.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Mary-
land, That section twenty-two of Article eighty-one of the
Code of Public General Laws, title "Revenue and Taxes," sub-
title "Rate and Items of State Tax," as the said section was
amended by the act of 1894, chapter 285, entitled An act to
regulate the levy for State purposes for the year eighteen
hundred and ninety-four, and subsequent years, be and the
same is hereby repealed and re-enacted so as to read as
follows :

Repeal.

22. The County Commissioners of the several counties of
this State, and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore city,
are directed to levy the State taxes, to be collected according
to law, and to be apportioned as follows: A tax of four and
one-eighth cents on each hundred dollars, to meet the interest
and to create a sinking fund for the redemption of the State
debt now outstanding; a tax of fifteen-sixteenths of one cent
on each hundred dollars, to meet the interest and create a sink-
ing fund for the redemption of the penitentiary loan; a tax
of three sixteenths of one cent on each hundred dollars, to
meet the interest and create a sinking fund for the redemption

Levy of State
taxes.