A22 MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1978  
TRIM IS A BAD idea. But it is likely to be enacted radical. It would set a ceiling not on the tax rate, but by voters in Prince GeorgeÛªs County, and it ap- on the tax revenues. It does not attempt a rollback; pears no less than an even bet in Montgomery. There like its Montgomery counterpart. It would simply de-are real dangers in the impact of rapid inflation on dare that the total - amount of money raised by the assessment of familiesÛª homes, but this kind of county real-estate taxes in any future year could not legislation is the wrong answer.	exceed the present yearÛªs revenuesÛÓsomewhere</br></br>TRIMÛÓalso known as Son of Proposition 13ÛÓis around $140 million. If assessments rise, the rate will shorthand for the charter amendments on the Nov. 7 have to drop. There is no provision for inflation. If ballot in both Maryland counties that would restrict more houses are built in the county, as they surely local taxing powers. The acronym stands for Tax Re- will be, the tax on each existing house will have to be lief in Montgomery or (in Prince GeorgeÛªs) Maryland, cut. There is no emergency clause. The ceiling could The measures are fueled by the exasperation of prop- be lifted only by another charter amendment and erty owners who see local budgets continue to go up referendum like this one.</br></br>when population is almost static, as in Montgomery,	The trouble with these arbitrary and rigid limits is</br></br>In Montgomery, where the budget has been rising authority that they need to meet unexpected chal-fast, TRIM is widely regarded as a right-wing attack lenges. But if the solution is a bad one, it also has to' on schools and services. While all the candidates are be said that the distress is real. Sudden increases in calling for restraint in spending, most of them have real-estate assessments impose unpredictable and in-declined to endorse the amendment. In Prince escapable burdens on families with fixed incomes, GeorgeÛªs the budget, corrected for inflation, is ac- families with children to educate, families coping tually a little lower now than it was five years ago. with major illnesses. Jumps in assessment increase There TRIM travels as a cause of the liberals, protect- the segregation of suburban neighborhoods by age big working people hard pressed by inflation, and and income. ItÛªs not the assessorÛªs fault. ItÛªs another virtually all of the candidates have endorsed it.	unhealthy consequence of inflation.</br></br>The two amendments differ sharply. MontgomeryÛªs Ideally, the remedy is to shift more of the local tax TRIM would hold the real-estate tax rat6 to $2.25 per burden from the property tax to the income tax, which $100 of assessed value. ThatÛªs a rollback of 35 cents, ac- is far better designed to take account of individual cording to TRIM; some of its opponents argue that it familiesÛª differing circumstances. But just as tradition would squeeze out other taxes as well, and have wider gives the property tax to the counties, it gives the ineffects than its authors intended. If it passes, that will be come tax to the state. That can be chainged, but not rap* a question for the courts. The amendment has, at least, a idly. If the TRIM amendments pass, they will mean that safety valve. In a declared emergency, the county coun- those two big counties will have less discretion in self-cilÛÓby a vote of six out of its seven membersÛÓcould ex- government at home, and will have to turn to the state ceed the ceiling. But even with the ceiling, taxes could more often. That would be particularly true in the case continue to rise with a houseÛªs assessment	of Prince GeorgeÛªs, as inflation shrank the value of