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Show i 1 l Wednesday, September 21, 1983 By Jock Wallis Naples bond election Next Tuesday Naples' City registered voters will go to the Naples School to let their views be known concerning con-cerning obtaining a $1 million bond. The general obligation bonds will not extend for more than 15 years nor exceed ex-ceed 5 percent interest. The money from the bonds is to be used for city improvements, mainly road resurfacing. The state Permanent Impact Fund Board has agreed to give Naples City a $1 million loan at percent interest over a 12 year period if the special bond election passes. The Impact Board generates funds from mineral lease royalties in the state for the purpose pur-pose of providing financial assistance to energy impacted communities. A group of Naples City citizens is opposing op-posing the bond because they feel they have been mislead by the costs of city government. This group has stated they do not need many of the services Naples City is trying to provide and they do not want their taxes raised or their property encumbered by city government debt. Naples city officials claim that the bond issue will not raise taxes, that the bonds will be paid off with normal revenues coming into the city. Uintah County Commissioners made it plain this week that they were not taking a stand for or against the Naples City bond issue. Contrary to reports by Naples City, Uintah County Coun-ty claimed they were neutral on the issue and would support Naples City either way the bond election goes. But even deeper than the bond issue is the determination of some Naples City residents to get out of Naples City. Ci-ty. These residents live on the west side of Naples City from 5th East to Vernal Ave. Even Vernal City has signed the petition because its cemetery is in this area. Naples City needs road improvements im-provements and the bond issue is about the only way it can come up with enough funds to get a substantial road improvement project underway. If the proposed bond election fails Naples City will have to come up with some other plan to improve its roads. If the bond issue succeeds it will be harder if not impossible for the residents on the west side to divorce themselves from Naples. So the election has more implications implica-tions than just getting funds for road improvements and building a "city hall." If residents are serious about getting out of Naples City they must defeat the bond election this Tuesday. Since the Naples residents voted to incorporate in the first place we assume they would accept the obligation obliga-tion of providing adequate roads within their boundaries. A low interest bond proposition seemed to be a good opportunity to fund the needed road project. Road expenditures are the main concern con-cern of Vernal City and Uintah County Coun-ty at the present time. Vernal City is going ahead with an ambitious road reconstruction program that will eventually even-tually upgrade the city road system. Uinah County is constantly purchasing new road equipment and is considering consider-ing the addition of a hot mix recycling plant to be used in conjunction with its asphalt pit operation. Naples City must come up with some kind of a road improvement program. pro-gram. If voters turn down the bond proposal something else must take its place or Naples residents will be handicapped han-dicapped with deteriorating rough roads that will become more expensive expen-sive to reclaim and repair at some future date. We hope everyone in Naples City who is eligible will vote in the upcoming upcom-ing election. If everyone will vote the way he thinks best, be it for or against the bond, then the wishes of the people peo-ple will be better served. We expect this election to be a pretty pret-ty good horse race. It will be interesting in-teresting to see which side wins and what the outcome will bring. One way or the other the Naples area must come up with a solution to its deteriorating road problem. Alhfi JMHQPOrt by Senator Orrin Hich Survey reflects Utah's common sense Common sense is often uncommon in Washington, D.C. It remains, however, an attribute shared by most Utahns. On issues ranging from U.S. aid to El Salvador to the management of public lands in Utah and from the condition con-dition of the economy to the state of our national defense, Utahns shared their common sense with me face to face and through surveys I took during dur-ing a recent swing through eight Utah counties. Taking advantage of Congress's annual an-nual August recess, I met with 1'lahn in town meetings held in Heaver, (Jar-field. (Jar-field. Kane, Millard and .Sanpete counties. coun-ties. In addition, t met with mayor, city councllmcn and county commts- Vernal Express (USPS 6510 8000 1 4 00 p yt w oa i S ?0 00 pm f Cr Si Nek Vl Awv, VtiT nai i mv o i ic'o. vi, tei I A l4e 4 2 assess 'O- . We" t Nwt ttftH WAS e V'! ttri A-n (0"f.rm - &;. t c;i Cv ---, ?n $J a m r;rt wwtt v--..9 ". 15 J 151 SeJH(!4 fr" sioners from Iron, Sevier and Washington counties. Regardless of the topic raised, the people I met with had some enlightening enlighten-ing comments on the issues we discussed and reflected the common sense perspective that is typical of the Utah view of government. For Instance, while Secretary of Interior In-terior Jim Watt may not be the most popular man in Washington, D C, Utahns. with two-thirds of our state owned by the federal govememnt, op-predate op-predate hi handling of the Department Depart-ment of Interior. Eighty percent of those surveyed approve of the way he's doing hts job, "I like Watt," said a man from Manti. "He understands the West." President Iteagan also received high mark trom Utahns. Eighty-nine per-cent per-cent said they approve of Reagan's handling ol the economy, and 86 percent per-cent approve of his handling of defense issue "I've fell more secure about our national future since Jrridenl Reagan's advent than every before," is how a man from I'anguitch put it, When aked about the creation of wilderness area, most favored some ildernes but disagreed about bow morn Thirty eight per rent said they preferred less wilderness than is designated in the draft proposal of the Utah congressional delegation and the governor, white U percent wanted more ilderness than is contained in thai proposal and one third endorsed the current draft. Clearly, I com promise on iMerness is needed 10 find the formula thai tan be supported by mot Utahns. A strong toneensus as evident on another iwe. Nearly nine out nf ten Ctabos. of ft percent, voiced support ft teident Reagan s efforts lo ifn-nrve ifn-nrve a rnderwre out military lorce. ih many etpreing tonrern hirh t share-that dottars for defense be spent iely. As a rngeVti eomafl re. ' rM k-p r twin"' A Katb f ti?en wbwtiTd. ''"There is Ms of fat to be jammed f nwti meetings are e at t m We to lk 4 of !h f n ewt of t,THn As tb fsom t B tVPt wre the t"af pTepnrlrr ih mt ce(N iw shrf on INDEXING CAPITAL ASSETS GAIN'S WTien Congress reconvenes next week, it will have before it several appropriations ap-propriations bills not yet processed and a wide variety of tax proposals, not all of them primarily designed to enhance Treasury revenues. Among the tax measures are recommendations recommenda-tions for indexing capital gains against the inroads of inflation. Separate bills to achieve this were introduced in the Senate and the House earlier this year by Sen. Bill Armstrong Arm-strong (R.Colo.) and Rep. Bill Archer (R.-Tex.), respectively. They are pending pen-ding before the Senate Finance Committee Com-mittee and the House Ways and Means Committee. A subpanel of the former held hearings last month on this subject. FAIRNESS THE CRITERION The proposed legislation, which should be of personal and business interest in-terest to individual investors and to corporations and other enterprises, would strike down the tax now imposed impos-ed on paper profits better known as the capital gains levy on the appreciated value of securities and real estate. Supporters of such a course argue that while assets held for several years usually increase in value, the increase is often only, or mostly, inflationary. Hence, they say that a tax on gains of this type is really a tax on inflation and a perniciously unfair levy that has a stifling effect on investment and growth. The companion bills now pending would eliminate this inflationary impost im-post by taxing real gains only. They would require that the federal basis for fixing the tax liability of securities and real estate be adjusted for inflation annually an-nually in much the same way as income in-come tax liability is to be adjusted beginning in calendar 1985. HOW EXPENSIVE? The authors of this legislation have so structured their bills that indexing would not be applied retroactively. Only On-ly those inflationary increases occurring occur-ring after 1983 would be taken into account ac-count in making the adjustment. As a result, no adverse effect on Treasury revenues would be felt before next year and mostly not until 1985 if the legislaton were to beconve law. Still there's no great enthusiasm for the indexing of capital assets within the Administration and so far the White House appears to be neutral. Our guess is that if President Reagan were to find a capital gains indexing in-dexing measure on his desk passed duly by Congress he would sign it.. .if it were a measure sole. However, its chances for enactment would be lessened if it were part of an omnibus tax measure containing provisions with which the President was in basic and perhaps adamant disagreement. PROSPECTS FOR PASSAGE A bill calling for indexation of capital gains against inflation did pass the House in '78 as part of that year's Revenue Act. However, before the oct became law, the indexing provision was voted out. Roughly similar circumstances cir-cumstances prevailed in '82 when the indexation of capital gains won Senate approval only to be dropped later by a House-Senate Conference Committee. This year, capital ossets indexing just could make it right through to enactment, but os we read the mood of the key tax writers on Capitol Hill, such an eventuality is by no means assured. Although business, accounting, accoun-ting, and tax reform groups are in favor of this idea, the probability is that Congress won't act soon. At the moment, wtth unemployment totals slowly declining, Senators and Representatives are only leaning moderately in favor of legislation designed to help business and in vrstor. In light of that, capital gains indexing must corral more support if it is to become la As we draw closer lo rleclion year distractions, that support sup-port could become more difficult for proponents lo muster. State board distributes flood funds The Utah Roard of aiet RemTes has included three t'inah County and one Daggeft CouWy prejecis newfcng fVwid damage financing The in'5? free money.- rt of !kh i fepavahle in 2 years. h rn ait!vi?H to 9, project in the 'e and Wl M ?T Five million dollars s ap-propnfter ap-propnfter H the firs r"na! nf the U !Ue 1 s) fVJ imaged pme H m! r-rigaieei r-rigaieei rwmpsnies 1 wa'r cr ot'raon I'VE GOT ME A WOOD PERMIT AND A NEW CHAIN SAW AND NOW I'M GOING- OKI TU.CS MftllMTAlM ANlY &ET ME. A aG FAT LOAD OF cioc Airrr r ri rsu vwu, sw.r win,,, u4t .,1. . I A THE VOICE OF BUSINESS The icon revolf spreads By Richard L. Lesher President Chamber of Commerce of the United States Georges Clemencueau, the prime minister of France, looked out over the carnage that was World War I and observed that "War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to generals." French military leadership lost hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of lives fighting a modern war against barbed wire and machine guns while using the tactics of the 1870s massive frontal assaults. The history of stagflation in the 1970s has added a corollary to Clemenceau's observation. Just as war is too important impor-tant to be left to the generals, tax policy is too important to be left to the politicians. The interests of those young men who fight and die in the trenches are not always those of the generals who plan strategy in the war room. And life in the economic trenches for working men and women who must pay taxes provides a different viewpoint from that seen by politicians who enact higher and higher taxes each year. Charge that hill! Pay that tax! You can do it. (I'll supervise.) It is easy to raise taxes: Raise your hand and say "Aye." It is not easy for families with mortgages, car payments and grocery bills to pay those taxes. As taxes income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes have risen, the gulf between taxpayers and politicians has widened. As a result, American taxpayers have moved to put some meaning back into the phrase, "consent of the governed." In 1978, California's citizens gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures to place Proposition Pro-position 13 on the ballot. Despite the opposition of virtually every leading politician in the state, Proposition 13 passed by a two-to-one margin and property taxes were halved. At the national level, the calls and letters of taxpayers forced Congress to pass President Reagan's 1981 tax cut, and when the government threatened to impose withholding on interest and dividend income, an unprecedented 20 million letters descended on congressional congres-sional offices. Congress got the message and repealed the withholding tax. But the tax revolt is not yesterday's headline. Taxpayers in Ohio were furious when Governor Richard Celeste increased in-creased the state income tax 90 percent mimicking Herbert Hoover's attempts to close a deficit by raising taxes. Ohioans, hard hit by the recession, were handed a double whammy with the sharp tax increase. Down, but not out, Ohio's taxpayers collected more than 500,000 signatures on two initiatives. in-itiatives. The first will repeal all the tax increases passed in the last year. The second will require any further tax hikes to be passed by three-fifths of both houses of the state legislature. Both initiatives will be on the November ballot and are expected to pass overwhelmingly. The tax revolt has spread into Michigan as well, where an initiative to repeal Governor Blanchard's massive tax hikes has garnered over 250,000 signatures to date and the initiative in-itiative will appear on the November 1984 ballot. The Michigan initiative also has an interesting feature: It would require any new tax increase to be approved by a vote of the people. Michigan taxpayers will not have to pay any new taxes they don't vote for themselves. That is true "consent of the governed." Similar efforts are under way in Oregon and Florida. Governors, congressman and state legislators should take note that the patience and bank accounts of the taxpayers tax-payers are running out. Taxpayers simply will not "take it any more." They don't have to. In those states that allow the initiative process, excessive taxes can be repealed by the people. In those states without an initiative, the solution is equally simple-retire those politicians politi-cians who think they need your paycheck more than your family does. Rep. Nielson clarifies statement on synfuel cuts Despite wire service reports earlier this week, Representative Howard Nielson says there is no initiative by him to cut f 10 billion from the Synthetic Syn-thetic Fuel Corporation budget of SIS million. "There is no initiative on my part to cut the budget. Rut the Synthetic Fuels Corporation has only spent R billion this year. And as long as the agency Itself Is not Inclined to use its full allocation, I do advocate that the extra ex-tra money should be turned back to the treasury," said Nielson, Nielson was quoted In a wire service story as saying he felt f tobillion could be cut from the budget despite the fact that bis Utah Third Congressional District has some of the nation's richest tar sands and oil shale deposits. There are lour companies that would bring projects to Ctah how be ing considered for financial assistance by the corporation. OMicials of Geokinetics Inc., Salt take City, were in Washington, D. C, Wednesday negotiating for funding, according lo a spokesman for Cieokinetics Congressman Nielson fully supports the four corporations and is frying to assist Ihem in every ay powMe. The wire service quoted SieUon as flood damaged projects in Cintah County are Ahley Central irrigation Company two. Ashley t'ppet Irrigation Ir-rigation Company tjm on. and Island IWth rwmpany .ewi In Daggt County the Sheep Creek if rigs t ion Company a given an Af the board s September meirg in Salt take City, board member W ayne tsinegar commended t governor 5it M Vatheaon and slate legislators for making the funds available fo help irrigators ir-rigators repair tbe?r flood ravaged tTsems The rooney r bepn t put pe"pe hk on fboir other-ie other-ie rf(f be faHpreeed to res. w e? their irrigation operstinns."' Wmetar ed saying he opposed the Synthetic Fuel Corporation's plan to provide "price guarantees" through subsidies that ossurc the synthetic fuels can be sold at competitive prices. The article quoted him as saying, "It appears socialistic lo me and I tend to be against subsidies." Today Nielson said. "I support the function of the agency and support the fact it Is trying to help develop natural resources. "The agency has three functions," he said, "to provide front end money to energy projects, to provide loan guarantees, end to provide price guarantees, I support the first two functions, but do not like the price guarantees because it's a form of subsidies." The 110 billion f igure was given as en example ol what could be cut. he said and was not an exact figure to be taken ai something be was advocating "I think they mild get by lor much less than they have now and I stand by that," he said Despite Nielson's claims, be is not initiating a plan lo get money cut from the corporation lie said, "There are moves in the House lo remove the agency entirely or to conert it lo a research agency ." James fcradley. director of the lh Energy Office, said. ' It s critical that the bwtget remain intact Any teduc-tnn teduc-tnn couM preclude any more funding of projects in the Cntied .Mates and especially here in Ctah " Creative financing is swnelimes called for in an industry bke ynfuek. Rradley said Without the beip of the government it tan' be done. he said. The four rwrpnrations funding fun-ding for Ctah prejofts are ne Rriret Shale rwrporatjnn pars tlerespmee4. fiirs r , a raj Che-rron ftecnurre RrfVy ad Magic Ortks is another evpmee4 that may gMy tu w' ' 1 "IMS 'w i "V. John P. Stevenson joins Vernal Ver-nal Mortuary, Salt Lake mortician joins Vernal Mortuary John P Steven of Salt Uke City is joining with the Vernal mortuary, Thomson Steven comes Irom a family ol morticians He was born May , lJ in Salt Lake City He grew up in Ringbam Canyon and West Jordan, where his parents first operated the Ringbam Canyon Mortuary and then Nevenwwt s Memorial Chapel Roth of his parents are licenced morticians. His mother was the first licensed lady embalmer in Ctah He attended the Cnirersity of Ctah and graduated from Cypress College of Mortuary Vience in Ifn He graduated Mu Sigma Alpha and rereirmi the Key Aafd " He has bop lwenef enre K7. and has been inmfted in the funeral business all of his life He has been etnptayed trr the Cwial Mutuary in SaS Lake oiy for the pat r ywrs Ret school years, he served a mission to truatemala El Salvador from mi n AfW graduating form mortuary mt he met and married terti A Morr They Hae one Vm. Fniflip is l t rears W Pre m moving lo Vernal, he served serv-ed in rurrfi positions |