WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor

Ch. 2

statement or a misleading omission. This would lead the reader
to question whether the willful making of a misleading omission
is not intended to be a crime for income tax purposes, a result
probably not intended by the General Assembly.

The failure to keep records is made a crime only with
respect to admissions and amusement tax and sales and use tax.
The General Assembly should consider whether the failure to keep
records should be made a crime with respect to all other taxes as
well.

The penalties are difficult to reconcile. For example, §
13-1009 of this subtitle provides penalties up to $10,000 and 5
years imprisonment for participating in the evasion of the
alcoholic beverage tax, whereas the willful evasion of the sales
and use tax by certain means has maximum punishments of a $1,000
fine and 1 year imprisonment. Similarly, being involved with
counterfeiting or forging alcoholic beverage stamps calls for a
penalty up to $10,000 or 5 years imprisonment, whereas similar
offenses in connection with the tobacco tax call for only a
$5,000 fine with 5 years imprisonment. The failure to keep
records (§ 13-1008) has criminal penalties that are twice as
serious for the sales and use tax as they are for the admissions
and amusement tax. The latter discrepency may be explainable
because throughout the statutes, the General Assembly has
consciously made criminal activity in connection with' the
admissions and amusement tax subject to less severe punishments
than criminal activity with respect to other statutes.

Sections 13-1023 and 13-1024 of this subtitle define certain
offenses relating to the failure of a taxpayer to provide
information. These crimes are applicable to most of the taxes
but not all of the taxes, and the question is whether the
General Assembly would intend to make these provisions applicable
to all taxes.

Section 13-1026 of this subtitle is a curious provision,
which makes it a crime for a State officer negligently to fail to
perform his duty under this article. This seems a rather harsh
penalty for negligence. Section 13-1027 of this subtitle
contains a criminal penalty for willful failure to perform one's
duty, which is a justifiable provision. The penalty for
negligency may be a bit harsh.

In conclusion, the Committee urges the General Assembly to
analyze the criminal provisions and to bring some order out of
the current chaos. The Committee has not attempted to draft a
statute that would create that order, because in almost every
instance, major policy decisions that are far beyond the purview
of the Committee's role must be made.

SUBTITLE 11. LIMITATIONS.

13-1101. TIME FOR ASSESSMENT OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTION FRANCHISE
OR INCOME TAX.

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