Two Maryland Counties Weigh TRIM Tax Measures

By David A. MaranissNovember 8, 1978

The antitax movement that began in California last June moved some 3,000 miles to the suburban borders of the nation's capital yesterday as voters in Montgomery and Prince George's voted on measures to limit the property taxing powers of their county governments.

At issue in the two suburban Maryland counties were charter amendments, known popularly as TRIM, that were inspired by California's Proposition 13, drafted by political outsiders and eventually embraced by many, but not all, local candidates.

The Prince George's version of TRIM, endorsed by both major parties would freeze the total property tax levy in the country at the amount raised for the 1979 budget - approximately $140 million.

The Montgomery proposal, which had the backing of mostgovernment support.

The one thing that these groups agree on is that the tax discussion will not end with the passage or defeat of the charter amendments. Many supporters and opponents of the measures echoed the words of Michael Gildea, a Montgomery County labor leader opposing that county's TRIM, when he said: "Our purpose - win, lose or draw - will be to press for tax reform after the election."

Gildea was part of a Fair Share Coalition of labor unions, teachers, student councils, tenant associations, PTAs, senior citizens and civil rights groups that worked to defeat the Montgomery TRIM, along with the League of Women Voters and James P. Gleason, the retiring Republican county executive.

The movement for TRIM was led by the 1,200-member Montgomery Taxpayers League, local chambers of