THEODORE R. MCKELDIN, GOVERNOR 1865

offenders may be permitted to leave the institution to per-
form productive labor so that the earnings can be used for
their families. It is the opinion of responsible penal au-
thorities of this State that the bill as drawn is much too
general. It is deemed essential that before adopting such
a departure from methods traditional in Maryland, careful
study should be given the subject with a view to determining
a completely feasible plan.

Respectfully,

(s) THEODORE R. MCKELDIN,

Governor
TRMcK/tk

SENATE BILL NO. 376

May 6, 1953

Honorable George W. Della
President of the Senate
State House
Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Mr. President:

From the best available information, I am informed that
Senate Bill 376 exempting insecticides and fungicides used
for agricultural purposes from the sales tax will cause a loss
of approximately $60, 000. 00 in State revenues. At least a
portion of this loss would be attributable to the difficulty of
determining applicability of the exemption, i. e., how would
a retail seller be able to determine absolutely that the pur-
chasers using it come within the qualification ? Tax experts
agree that such qualified exemptions, especially because of
difficulty of administration, aside from discriminatory
features, are undesirable in any basic tax policy. Before
consideration of whether or not an exemption such as this is
desirable from a policy standpoint and feasible from a
revenue standpoint, possible unfair discriminations should
be resolved. Thus, as a general proposition, a minimum
basis for distinction would be the exemption of non-com-
mercial users as opposed to commercial users. Preferable
certainly from an administrative standpoint would be an
exemption of all users of a given product. Moreover, an
exemption from sales tax which benefits some persons,
firms and corporations operating for profit, while excluding
others, might well present constitutional difficulties, aside