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Show Economy Program Fades At State Legislature Legislators Turn Down Bills To Do Away With State Income Tax SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, (Special (Spe-cial to the News) Prospects for economy in state government grow dimmer and dimmer as the 25th biennial session of the Utah legislature leg-islature passed its halfway mark this week. Measures proposing salary increases in-creases to the state auditor, treasurer, court reports and a resolution res-olution urging the Governor to raise salaries of all state employes em-ployes have received approval of the lower house which, at the same time, exhibited a tendency of opposition to any attempt to reduce the heavy tax load on the great mass of the citizens of the state. Grant $600 Increase Legislation granting a $600 annual an-nual increase to court reporters was passed by the house as an emergency measures and will restore re-store the reporters to their old salary of $2,400 in 1945. Two income tax measures were pummeled by the legislators. The first by Rep. S. W. Elswood, D., Weber, to repeal the entire state individual income tax levy, was killed, and the second measure to raise personal exemptions by Republicans Quayle Cannon Jr., and Frank Mozely, both of Salt Lake, was defeated but brought back before the house on Cannon's Can-non's motion to reconsider. This bill now lies on the house table while its sponsors await a more opportune time to bring it before the body for consideration. During debate on the income tax measures an anti-economy note was sounded by Rep. J. W. (Continued on page eight) Utah Legislature (Continued from first page) Reed. D., Salt Lake, member of the appropriations committee, who said the committee already was searching for additional sources of revenue to meet state needs. Roll call on the income tax measure to increase exemptions showed Representative E. S. Gardner Gard-ner voting in the negative. H. B. 66 to grant owners of homes and homesteads a $1,000 exemption where the said home or homestead is occupied by the owner was introduced in the house during the week. With bills offering both property prop-erty and income tax relief in the House gristmill, there probably will be plenty of "back of the scenes horse-trading" before the House members vote on either measure again. Mining Bills Introduced Five bills vitally affecting the state's mining industry were acted upon or introduced in the Senate during the past week. Three of the measures by Senators Lynn S. Richards, D., Salt Lake, and Mitchell Melich, R., Grand, would encourage mine leasing in Utah, while the other two, also by Richards and Melich, would permit per-mit women to work "above ground" in mines and smelters and would repeal the "collar-to-collar" mine law. The first three bills have already al-ready passed the Senate and are in the House. These measures would relieve mine lessors of the burden of paying charges assessed for social security benefits, workman's work-man's compensation and occupational occupa-tional disease disability insurance. |