1512                               Laws of Maryland                        [Ch. 545

will.. Upon payment, the deal DEALER shall convey his business to
the manufacturer, distributor or factory branch free and clear of
liens and encumbrances.

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That if any provision of this
Act or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held
invalid for any reason, the invalidity shall not affect the other provi-
sions or any other application of this Act which can be given effect
without the invalid provisions or application, and to this end all the
provisions of this Act are declared to be severable.

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
April 30, 1973.

Approved May 26, 1972.

CHAPTER 545
(House Bill 762)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 277(a)
of Article 81 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1971 Supple-
ment), title "Revenue and Taxes," subtitle "Recordation Tax,"
and to add new Section 277 (s) to the same Article, Code (1969
Replacement Volume), title and subtitle, to follow immediately
after Section 277(r) thereof, to require the collection of a stated
tax by the State Department of Assessments and Taxation upon
certain instruments of writing filed with the Department pursuant
to the Uniform Commercial Code (Article 95B), providing for
the administration of the tax collected, granting certain rulemaking
power to the Department, and generally relating to the recorda-
tion tax.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 277(a) of Article 81 of the Annotated Code of Mary-
land (1971 Supplement), title "Revenue and Taxes," subtitle "Recor-
dation Tax," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments; and that new Section 277(s) be and it is hereby added
to the same Article, Code (1969 Replacement Volume), title and
subtitle, to follow immediately after Section 277(r) thereof, all to
read as follows:

277.

(a) A tax is hereby imposed upon every instrument of writing
conveying title to real or personal property, or creating liens or
encumbrances upon real or personal property, offered for record and
recorded in this State with the clerks of the circuit courts of the
respective counties, [or] the clerk of the Superior Court of Balti-
more City, or AND ON INSTRUMENTS OF WRITING DE-
SCRIBED IN SUBSECTION (S) HEREOF FILED WITH the
State Department of Assessments and Taxation, provided