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Show The'Paper That Dares To Take A Stand June 14, 1973 WERE VICTIMS OF POLITICAL GREED " Big Brother Inspections Members of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Motor Vehicle Emissions have officially expressed many reservations ? i Con Men And Seat Belts American motorists have already been compelled to buy an assortment of expensive automobile-safetdevices they do not want and in the future will be forced to buy more. Consider one item: seat belts. Even if there were no economic or engineering arguments against government intervention-by-forc- e in the matter of seat belts-eveif it were an indisputable fact that seat belts do provide safety for those who use them; and even if the federal government had constitutional authority to intervene (as it does not), there would be no justification for government intervention, because a person who refuses to use a seat belt does not thereby endanger anyones safety except his own. But the idea of allowing consumers free choice is intolerable to government regulators and consumer advocates. On 1973-modcars, consumers are already paying from thirty to fifty dollars for a lap belt equipped with a light and buzzer which are activated if the belt is not fastened. Many motorists disconnect the device or deactivate it by buckling it behind them. Since some consumers will not use this expensive device that government forces them to buy, government has decided to retaliate against all consumers by making them purchase a more expensive device which they will have to use, and which will probably impair the operating efficiency of their cars. On April 19, 1973, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it will require an interlock system on all cars manufactured after August IS, 1973. With this system installed in a car, a front-sepassenger must have a fastened around him before the car can be started. Deactivating this new rig so that the car will operate without it will necessitate major changes by a skilled mechanic. Car industry officials have warned that the new device will be very costly, will make cars difficult to start, and (because of its complexity) may have a malfunction rate as high as three percent during the first year of operation. In response to these warnings from industry, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration amended its interlock system which will allow a car requirement to include an alternative system engine to be started but prevent the vehicle from moving until driver and front-sea- t passenger are fully trussed up in the safety apparatus. y n el at belt-combinati- The Cost Of Emission Controls Emission-contrdevices which motorists will eventually be forced to buy will add more hazards to car driving than safety devices will eliminate. The price to consumers of thus making matters worse for them will be very high. Estimates of the cost of. emission-contrdevices now being developed and tested range from $300 to $500 per car small car as well as large car. Hence, a median estimate of $400 added to per car for emission control seems reasonable. This $400 of small cars considerthe selling price will increase consumer-cos- t consumer-co- st of ably more proportionately than it will increase the the big luxury cars. In other words, the little consumer (always politicians) will focus of the expressed concern of consumer-advocat- e him than will pay proportionately more for the protection forced on the big consumer. ol ol Costs Added ToCosts The cost of original purchase is just the beginning of the expense devices will impose on car owners. which the new emission-contro- l New gadgets to malfunction will mean more repair bills, and heavier cars may mean higher license fees in some states. A big, continuing devices will be for cost occasioned by the new emission-contro- l of motors, thus gasoline. The devices will decrease the efficiency cars have already increasing fuel consumption. Devices on present which means increased fuel consumption by at least 4.6 percent devices are daily using that present cars with emission-contrwould be using 12,600,000 more gallons of gasoline than they of without the devices. The new models will consume a minimum cars. Some estimates twenty percent more gasoline than todays new say they will double gasoline consumption! ol The fact that the new cars will consume twenty percenl "J?" the fac a e ga gasoline than present models consume, plus consurn will cost more, adds up to an increased cost for gaso ine words, l you rive y amounting to $0,016 per mile. In other will be $192 a ye one thousand miles a month, your gasoline bill greater than now. devices on the new cars will be in Moreover, emission-contrlead in it. Consequen y, e compatible with gasoline that has any rise because, in order to get price of gasoline for the new cars must millions of the lead out of it, oU companies w01 necessarily spend dollars rebuilding refineries. S3 "tolletine with the requirement that ance of all emission-control miles. nu.ftlf'"r y fifty thousand Legal Plays Used as Tax Rebels Fight IRS Reprinted from the Tacoma-New- s Tribune. May 23, 1973 SALT LAKE CITY(AP) They cars with fake stamp form notices, posses" to arrest government agents and refuseto file tax returns. They're a loosely organized group of Western tax rebels out to rid America of the income tax. The Internal Revenue Service about the Committees majority conclusion that, although the neces- technology is not presently available, the larger automobile manufacturers be able to meet federal standards for emission s. controls on One reservation derives from the fact that enforcement of the law will necessitate the construction meaningful of a nationwide network of inspection and maintenance stations. Mr. Alexander Rihm Jr., Director of the Air Pollution Control Program for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, says that inspecting a car to determine whether its emission-contrdevices meet federal standards will be a complex will It procedure. require sophisticated equipment costing about $15,000, and the service (not a job for garage mechanics) of highly skilled technicians. Can you imagine, Mr. Rihm asks, what the expense would be and the inspection fees that would have to be charged if this type of testing were done at 11,000 inspection stations in New York State? The cost to taxpayers and consumers for an adequate network of adequate testing stations in all fifty states and the territories could run into billions of dollars. The government cannot require the establishment of such a network, because the nation does not have the economic resources to do it. Hence, the Clean Air Amendments Act of 1970 is an unenforceable law. It will pile new costs and other harmful consequences on consumers, but accomplish nothing worth1975-model- protect. Potentially, the most Fakery Posse Frm con man for what ha really is would be to admit that the puMc was a sucker, too gullible to recognize ripht f had much rather continue the fraud and allow the env"8 con man to take his extra share. Consequences of the attack by oreaimeH mnc, n, aUt' mobile manufacturers illustrate Dr. con men, in and out of public office enlistLthe for efCologlcal tf ment, have victimized the motorist whom thev were pretending to ol The UTAH Independent Page 7 tax-seizu- re ol calls them lawbreakers, .however, and says it isn't worried. It claims victories in recent icoiirt cases against tax rebels in Utah, Arizona and California. Several have received prison sentences, and cases are pending in a scattering of other states. Utah IRS director Roland Wise ol Shot Full Of Lead How about the villain lead? An existing Environmental Protection lead-fre- e gasoline Agency regulation requires oil companies to make mid-197- 4, outlaw does not but generally available to the public by leaded gasoline. A recently proposed E.P.A. regulation (April, 1973) of all gasoline would gradually reduce the allowable until none has lead. This new regulation would slowly starve off the motors produced before road all old cars with Cars emission-contro- l devices were required. produced to meet all requirements of the Clean Air Amendments Act of 1970 will be incapable of using leaded gasoline. In November of 1972, the E.P.A. published a paper entitled EPAs Position On The Health Effects Of Airborne Lead. It sets out the reasons and basis for regulating leaded gasoline out of existence. In a careful, scholarly analysis of this E.P.A. paper, Dr. Harold H. Golz (medical director of the American Petroleum Institute) makes some startling charges. Dr. Golz says the E.P.A. makes assertions which it does not even assertions attempt to prove, with scientific evidence or otherwise and fallacious untested on based entirely theories, speculation, Continued On Page 8 lead-conte- high-compressi- on nt protesters are lawbreakers, martyrs and people who just plain don't want to pay their fair share. They range from Scripturequoting Mormons to atheistic followers of novelist Rand. philosopher Ayn Nearly all are political conservatives, capitalists and critics of the Nixon administration, as well as every other administration. Many of the tax rebels are members of the Libertarian Party, which believes in severely limiting government power over the individual. self-style- of politicians, supporting clamorous allegations by consumer advocates also motivated by lust for power. When soberly examined, the mountains of clamorous allegations are often found resting on molehills of truth. ar the says while. All of this has resulted from greed for political power on the part Those Ecology Molehills Consumer advocates routinely and uniformly assert that automobiles cause sixty percent of the problem of air pollution. Mr. Alexander Rihm Jr. says this assertion is a gross misrepresentation of the fact, and it results from people trying to make headlines by oversimplifying the total problem of air pollution. Mr. Rihm told about a Member of Congress (whom he declined to identify) publicly asserting that cars cause sixty percent of air pollution. When challenged, the Congressman justified his misrepresentation by saying: We have to use this figure so that laymen will understand us. Mr. Rihm indicates that cars may actually produce four to ten percent of all contaminants that have harmful effects in the atmosphere. Dr. Philip Handler, President of the National Academy of Sciences, 'says: 'Overall, natural production of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and perhaps NOX nitrogen oxides far exceeds that sources. from man-mad- e Car motors emit four basic substances which the government is causing harmful effects on trying to outlaw as and also on human beings and on all other life, plant and animal certain inanimate materials. The four substances are carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and lead. A 1972 report by the Environmental Protection Agency said that car emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides do great damage to material and vegetation, but acknowledged that the cost of controls to eliminate these noxious emissions will be 8.1 times greater than the total damage the emissions cause. The E.P.A. said it had made no estimate of health benefits to be derived from because of an almost complete lack of data about the health effects of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides in the general atmosphere. extension On April 11, 1973, when announcing a partial one-yeof the deadline for the automobile industry to meet emission-contrstandards set by the Clean Air Amendments Act of 1970, E.P.A. officials said the Environmental Protection Agency had changed its discovered position with regard to nitrogen oxides. The E.P.A. has are oxides causing any that there are only two areas where nitrogen D. William and Ruckelshaus, Chicago. serious problems: Los Angeles that had he said Congress act already suggested then E.P.A. director, quickly to review the situation and change the law which now requires a ninety percent reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxides by 1976. . d Salt Lake City precious metals dealer, is chairKarl Bray, a man pf the Libertarian Party and spokesman for a legal group organized to defend taxpayers . against the IRS. He says thousands of people in the West belong to anti-ta- x groups which meet regularly, but do not use formal names to avoid conspiracy charges. 'Taxation is theft," Bray says. "It is theft from productive people who are told they do not have the maturity and freedom to voluntarily pay for the services they receive." He says IRS agents violate citizens' rights and income constitutional, enterprise and inspired. He says a source in the IRS told him 1 1,700 protest returns were filed in Utah last year by persons who took such steps as overtly reporting f'se withholding exemptions. Wise says the number of protest returns was less than 100. The IRS isn't alone in rejecting tax rebellion. the in Utah and sheriffs County Idaho have turned away ' politically conservative groups who tried to enlist them in their cause. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints has . so-call- ed issued strong statements against Mprmons not paying their taxes. I'm trying to ignore them because I don't like their tactics," said Sheriff Ford Smith of Idaho's Madison County after a group approached him connection with the citizens' posse they formed. "They remind me of the way vigilantes operate," he said. John F. Grismore of Bountiful, Utah, a Mormon and ...author of a book called "IRS Taxation or Plunder?" - Continued On Page 8 |