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Show Matheson Hunter report on Legislature Government spending and taxes were the chief issues of both the Utah House of Representatives and the Senate, according to State Representative Haze Hunter and Senator Ivan Matheson. Speaking to the Cedar City Chamber of Commerce, Hunter stated: "We were successful in cutting fifty million dollars from the Governor's budget, and I don't think it hurt our state one bit." 1 The freshman representative, ser ving on three committees, voted against all bills involving tax increases, in-creases, but expressed content with the passage of the gasoline tax. Pointing out the decline of Utah's highway quality, and attributing it in part to the 29 percent rollback in high- P way employees, Hunter said, "I j ; believe it was needed." Matheson commented that the high cost of energy and decreased travel in the state accounted for a $30 million . deficit in state revenue said, "We are at a point where we must either cut back programs to meet our budget or raise our taxes to meet our expenditures," The senator also felt that the legislature "kept the bureaucracies of the government in check" concerning spending and increased taxation. Hunter also reported satisfaction in the passing of the single-married tax reformation which will raise a single person's income tax by 0.5 percent to offset the disadvantage of a married tax, and make the tax more uniform for all; yet he expressed concern and regret over the failure of a bill calling for an involved study of the radiation victims in southern Utah. He suspected that the bill "conveniently "con-veniently got lost" in the House Rules Committee but indicated that it will be considered for possibilities later this summer. Both officials indicated that it was very difficult to voice the opinion of southern Utah, estimating that as many as 90 percent of all bills and resolutions were to the benefit of the Wasatch Front area. On several occasions both men were fortunate enough to stop portions of bills and resolutions which would have been detrimental to southern Utah. |