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Show CITY enoi pTflo-SALT LAKE CITY, Senator Dean Predicts Tax Reduction in Budget Session budgetary surpluses hold up. 1. Remove the sales tax from prescription drugs and also rebate income taxes by a credit similar to the 1973 $6 per person food sales tax credit. 2. Put all the tax return whatever amount is deemed possible e income tax into the refund or perhaps reaching to $10 per personal exemption if Sen Deans guess at the overall tax one-tim- . Sen. Ernest II. Dean Utah State Senate President Ernest H. Dean said this past week that he believes tl...t the upcoming budget session of the Utah Legisla- ture will enact a tax reduction. Senator Dean said though he-- did not know how significant that the reduction would be. "My guess would be that it might be somewhere around $10 million. Both sides of the aisle are looking at some kind of a reduction the senate president said. Both want to put a lid on new taxes and both will be seeking to reduce some for now. Thatll go a long way to bring both sides together although the method of achieving it could get quite political becuase of the close partisan membership in both houses. Senator Dean went on to say that there are two trends of thought in possible tax reductions if projected reduction amount proved out. Dean however, cautioned that any surplus should be put into one-tim- e uses so as not to affect the ongoing tax base and government spending level. He also noted that the question marks still surround the availability of surplus depending on future events. The $13 million or $14 million they talk about is as fluid as can be he added. The President of the Senate also noted that there will much pressure exerted for spending. First the will " pro increased bably be met and, secondly a general fund transfer of a few million dollars for highways will probably .be favored so as not to increase state gasoline taxes. Once we reach that level it is my opinion that any new starts in government spending or tremendous new increases will be hard to come by. Sen Dean said. Senator Dean also comented on other matters and said he is not an advocate of legislation to permit elections recalling public officials becuase theres already too much harrassment now and it will discourage qualified office seekers. But he added, he could support drafting an enabling constitutional amendment although he is opposed to the recall plan now being proposed by citizen petitioners. cost-of-livi- ng Lengthy Approval Processes Delay Kaiparowits Project The timetable for initial operation of the proposed Kaiparowits power project in Southern Utah has been set back one year due to delays in regulatory approvals, it was announced this week by a spokesman for project participants. William R. Gould, executive vice president of Southern California Edison Co., said the delays stem from objections by environmental groups and lengthy approval processes. We must regrettably recognize these delays as realities and establish revised initial operating dates, he said. Arizona Public Service Co. and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. are the other present participants in the project. Negotiations are under way for sale of 18.6 percent of the project presently uncommitted. In September, 1973, the group projected startup in 1980 of the initial generating unit of the 3,000 coal-fire- d - megawatt, plant, with the other three units In operation and the plant at full capacity in 1982. In the rescheduling session Mr. Gould said completion dates for the generating units will be in the 1982, 1983, 1984 time-frame. The participants recognize that any major energy project will result in environmental impacts. However, the Kaiparowits project has made an unprecedented commitment to environmental protection, he said. We intend to continue to proceed as rapidly as possible toward obtaining regulatory approval," Mr. Gould continued. However, until the various environmental issues and regulatory delays are resolved and the resultant cost increases are assessed, the participants cannot prudently continue to make major expenditures (which he said would have amounted to about $80 million in 1976) to meet the (continued on page 5) UTAH-- J FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 1976 Professor Richard D. Poll Speaker Farm Leader Warns Consumers For Utah Statehood Day Celebration Of Food Cost Rise The Tabernacle program is free Restrictions placed on farm production and marketing are building up further food price increases, a Utah farm leader has warned consumers. He added that if consumers dont unite and demand an .end to restrictive government regulations, America may lose its status as having the best food at the lowest cost in the world. Elmo W. Hamilton, president of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and a farmer in Riverton, Salt Lake County, gave several examples of how restrictions can boost the tape in the grocery checkout line. Because of court action by several environmental groups, it will cost more to feed beef cattle for many years to come, he pointed out. Ranchers who lease public lands and that includes 70 percent of Utah acreage are willing to spend their own money to improve publicly owned grazing land, if they have assurance of being able to use the land for a few yearsr Thats how" they 'can' recover their expenses. But two obstacles stand in the way of such rangeland improvement. First, the Forest Service and to the public; but tickets will be required for admission. The free tickets are available on a first come, first served basis from the Utah State Historical Society or the Utah Bicentennial Commission, cosponsors of the event. - Dr. Richard D. Poll, professor of history at Western Illinois University, will deliver the Statehood Day address. Governor Calvin L. Ramp-to- n and LDS Church President Spencer W. Kimball will also be featured speakers. Other items on the program' inlcude the reading of the original Statehood Proclamation by U.S. Senator Frank E. Moss and administering the oath of office to state officials by Utah Chief Justice Henri Henriod. . Prof.' Richard D. Poll of Western The format of the Statehood Day Illinois University examines historic steel pen and silver holder used program is patterned after the statehood ceremony of by President Grover Cleveland to original 1896. salute Accordingly, a n enable Utah to become a state. will National be fired Utah the by Professor Poll will deliver the Statehood Day address --Jtnury 3, ..Guard.. from v the capital., ground -1976, at ceremonies in the Salt beginning at 6:45 p.m. Music for the program will be provided by Lake Tabernacle. the Utah National Guard 23rd Band and by a 1000-voic- e Impressive ceremonies honoring Army of anniversary of Utah's childrens choir, also reminiscent Bureau of Land Management the eightieth 1896 the celegration. entrance into the Union have been (BLM) wont give ranchers any scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 3, assurance of use for several years. The childrens choir is organized at 7:00 p.m. in the Salt Lake Second, due to court action by 1976, and directed by Avery L. Glenn, Tabernacle. Statehood Day events several groups of environmentalmusic specialist with the Utah will serve to launch the national ists, ranchers cant legally make Bicentennial Board of Education. year in Utah. improvements on public land until environmental impact studies are 50-gu- . . , TODAYS filed." Hamilton said that will take up to 18 or 20 years to complete those studies in Utah alone. In , the meantime, cattle will have to be fed at higher cost, and that cost will have to be covered by higher consumer prices. Recent government halts to export trade with Russia have discouraged grain producers from planting as many acres in crops for next year as they did this year. With lower quantities of grain planted, the cost of production per bushel will go up. And the scarcer supply of grain will also drive prices up. The Army Corps of Engineers is threatening to limit farm production in coastal areas and near Hamilton explained. waterways, That could lower the productive value of many thousands of acres of land, causing higher food prices in the store. The Farm Bureau leader scored EDITORIAL v 4 All Must Act to Solve Utahs Medical Insurance Problem the country and in Utah, the cost of professional liability insurance for doctors has gone up as much as 400 percent. Many private insurance companies have either stopped offering medical malpractice insurance or simply are not looking for new Across business. The general cause of these tremendous increases in doctors insurance rates has been a skyrocketing increase the Environmental Protection in the number of lawsuits alleging malpractice being Agency for banning effective pest doctors and control products without an effec- brought against hospitals and extremely tive or economical substitute being large awards being given by juries in many instances. available, often when the banned In Utah, 85 percent of our doctors are covered by a chemical had not been proven group policy issued by Aetna Insurance Company dangerous. Citizen protest and legislative through the Utah State Medical Association. The action are the only ways to put an contract with Aetna expires on November 30, 1976, so end to these regu- the vast majority of Utahs doctors are at least assured lations, he emphasized. If those activities dont take place, Ameri- of professional liability coverage through that date. cas bountiful food supply will That gives us some breathing time to find a Utah shrivel. Then a lot more of our solution to this critical problem. But the insurance citizens will have to move to the farm. (continued on page 2) cost-increasi- |