Evening star., 1935-04-01
DRIVE TO.REV|VE
2PCT. TAX MADE
Maryland Legislators Sign
ing Petition to Force
Reconsideration.
BY JACK ALLEN.

BY JACK ALLEN.
STAR CORRESPONDENT Of The Star.
ANNAPOLIS, April IA last
minute move to revive the 2 per cent
general sales tax was being made by
members Of the Senate today as the
Maryland General Assembly swung
into the final day of its 1885 session.
Meanwhile, Gov. Nice said that he
would afix his signature to the per
cent gross levy bill late this afternoon
If the Assembly had not taken some
definite step toward enactment OF sub
stitute legislation to raise relief funds.
A petition to reconsider the 2 per
cent tax bill is being circulated by
senatorial advocates of the general
sales levy, and the bill, discarded last
week in favor of the / per cent gross
tax measure, will be brought back to
the floor If majority, Of Is members,
Of the Upper House sign.
IA Have Signed.
1t was learned from one member of
the Senate urging adoption of the 2
per cent tax that Ia had signed the
petition up until short time before
the Senate was scheduled to convene,
while he said that "a fifteenth had
promised his support"
Gov. Nice told The Star this morn
ing he would sign the gross receipt
bill this afternoon unless it was indi-
Gated that sufficient sentiment in sup
port of substitute relief legislation had
developed in time to assure its passage
before the State Assembly adjourns
sine die tonight.
The executive said this morning
that hundreds of merchants had ap-
pealed to members of the Legislature
TO reconsider the gross levy and adopt
in its place the consumers tax that
was originally proposed to raise the
$5,000,000 the Federal Government
has demanded the State raise as its
share of the relief burden.
Effective Immediately.
Regardless of the tax that is decided
upon, it will become effective immedi-
ately.
The gross levy measure was to have
taken effect today.
Gov. Nice said that the first returns
from the gross sales would be COL
lected by the State controller on May
!, with merchants paying tax of l
per cent on their gross sales for the
current month.
II the Q per cent general tax is
substituted. Gov Nice will sign the
bill Immediately and the consumers
will begin Immediately to pay the levy
on their purchases.
The latest move to substitute the
general levy for the gross tax began
after Federal Relief Administration
officials issued a mandate Saturday
that the State must raise $4,000, 900
toward Maryland's relief needs. The
mandate was handed down after wide
spread reports that the gross tax. would
fail to produce the required sum.
Gorfine Wires Assurances.
Speaker Emanuel Gorfine of Balti-
more City Immediately wired Federal
authorities assurances that the gross
receipts levy would yield the necessary
amount, but no further word was
forthcoming from Washington this
morning.
Proponents of the sales levy point
out that the adoption Of their pro-
posal could be expedited by amending
q House bill on the second or third
reading file in the Senate and substi-
tuting the tax bill for the original
House measure.
Adoption by the Senate and con-
currence in the amendment by the
hA al
be required to put the tax through
legislative channels.
Merchants Uncertain.
Merchants in the vicinity of Wash
1ngton were, for the most part, un-
certain today whether they would
absorb the proposed l per cent gross
sales tax passed by the Maryland
Legislature and expected to be signed
by Gov. Nice before midnight tonight
The only definite announcement
came from the Peoples Drug Store
management, which said that if the
bill is enacted they would absorb the
tax, rather than pass it on to the
customers.
Officials of large chain food stores
such as the Atlantic & Pacific and
Sanitary Grocery Co., said they could
make no announcement until the bill
actually became law.
Independent merchants in the
rural sections likewise were uncertain
as to what course they would follow,
but intimated they would act in
unison, all of them either absorbing
the tax or boosting the price of their
merchandise to make the customer
pay.
Several independent storekeepers in
the suburban section declared they
simply could not pay the tax and
stay in business. Because it will be
difficult for them to pass the levy
on to the consumer, such merchants
are most worried about the tax, and
willing to join any movement to de-
feat it in the courts.