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Show B6 Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Vernal Express Utah named top pro-business state m w -v ' t - :. .Vi ) - ; A ; i . "' . W - i" - ' " V ? . - i . .... . , . I ;. ,i? RUMMAGE SALE Members of the Current Topics Club Marie Yoder, Myrna Cobbs, Carole Jackson, Karinda Magee, Cindy Mortensen, Sharon Hart and Doris Goddard are joined by Jeff Merrell and Keith Campbell of the Uintah County Sheriff's Department in accepting a donation of the club. The good works and gifts by the Current Topics Club are offered throughout the year to various organizations in the community. com-munity. They fund their philanthropy through their yearly Current Topics Rummage Sale. This year's sale is in the Western Park Ice Rink building, 302 E. 200 S., Vernal on April 12. Purchases fund donations for many causes all year. Unclaimed refixnds for Utah Unclaimed refunds totaling $5.8 million are awaiting 7,400 Utahns who failed to file a federal fed-eral income tax return for 2004, the Internal Revenue Service recently announced. Across the country, $1.2 billion bil-lion of unclaimed refunds are still available for 1.3 million taxpayers. To collect the money, a return for 2004 must be filed with an IRS office no later than next Tuesday. Those due a refund who did not file a 2004 tax return could collect even more money by also filing a 2007 tax return to claim the economic stimulus payment or tax rebate. To receive a payment, pay-ment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of qualifying income and file a 2007 federal tax return. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive the rebate. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17. The IRS estimates that half of those who could claim refunds for tax year 2004 would receive more than $552. In some cases, individuals had taxes withheld from their wages, or made payments pay-ments against their taxes out of self-employed earnings, but had too little income to require filing a tax return. Some taxpayers may also be eligible for the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit. In cases where a return was not filed, the law provides most taxpayers with a three-year window win-dow of opportunity for claiming a refund. If no return is filed to claim the refund within three Dr. Bryan D. Smuin Chiropractic Physician X ' jf! ' ' i ?' it ' nK WITH CLASSES AT . MS EXCEL 2007, BEGINNING Vernal 410-58 Th GEOCACHING WORKSHOP Roosevelt 419 Sa 9am-Noon ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 5.0 WORKSHOP Vernal 422-513 T 3:30-5:30 pm 1100 East Lagoon St. Roosevelt, Utah 84066 435-722-6900 559 North 1700 West Vernal, Utah 84078 435-725-7100 taxi avers years, the money ecomes prop erty of the U.S. Treasury. For 2004 returns, the window closes on April 15, 2008. The law requires that the return be properly addressed, postmarked and mailed by that date. There is no penalty assessed by the IRS for filing a late return qualifying for a refund. "Time is getting short for claiming the tax refund you may be entitled to," said acting IRS Commissioner Linda E. Stiff in a press release. "But you can't get it unless you file the tax return. Don't take a chance on losing your tax refund. And this year, remember that you need to file a 2007 tax return in order to receive an economic stimulus payment." The IRS reminds taxpayers seeking a 2004 refund that their checks will be held if they have not filed tax returns for 2005 or 2006. In addition, the refund will be applied to any amounts still owed to the IRS and may be used to satisfy unpaid child support or past due federal debts such as student loans. By failing to file a return, individuals stand to lose more than refunds of taxes withheld or paid during 2004. Many low- niriMTir r - 'V i'V.' " I ;( -t.V lift Express 789 - 7290 319 West 100 South Vernal (Behind Showalter Ford Showroom) A' 5:30-9:30 pm Uintah Basin income workers may not have claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Although eligible taxpayers may get a refund when their EITC is more than what theyowe in tax, those who file returns more than three years late would be able only to apply it toward the taxes they owe, if any. They would not be able to receive a refund if the credit exceeded their tax. Generally, unmarried individuals indi-viduals qualified for the EITC if in 2004 they earned less than $34,458 and had more than one qualifying child living with them, earned less than $30,338 with one qualifying child, or earned less than $11,490 and had no qualifying child. Limits are slightly higher for married individuals filing jointly. Current and prior year tax forms and instructions are available avail-able on the Forms and Publications Publica-tions page of the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov or by calling 1-800-829-3676. Information about the Earned Income Tax Credit and how to claim it is also available on the IRS Web site. Taxpayers who need help can also call the toll-free IRS help line at 1-800-829-1040. nrrinrhri 54 North Vernal Avenue Vernal, Utah 435-789-3511 www.vernal.com t 7 Collett $76.00 Morris Smith $28.90 $35.40 Applied Tecinoogy College a UCAT campus Ci - ' Staff of Dinosaur National Monument work to clear snow from the Harpers Corner Road in the park. Drifts between 8 and 14 feet have slowed the process of opening the road this season. Snow delays opening of road on Blue Mtn. The Harpers Corner Road is most often open by mid-April, but unusually deep snow has delayed the opening to the end of the month. Traditionally, the monument has cleared and opened the Harper's Corner Road by Easter Eas-ter weekend. However, an early Easter weekend coupled with heavy snowfall this past winter has hampered efforts to open the road. Crews have worked daily for the past several weeks plowing plow-ing snow along the road where drifts are 14 feet deep in some places. "Once plowed, the road and sub-base needs to dry for about two weeks to prevent road damage," dam-age," according to Gary Mott, Utah faces challenges in keeping college freshmen for another year SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah is below the national average when it comes to retaining retain-ing college students after their freshman year. Officials believe there's more than one factor, but many people apparently are dropping out to take jobs in Utah's hot economy. In Utah, 62 percent of freshmen fresh-men at four-year public schools are returning to the same school the following year. That doesn't include students who choose a Mormon church mission or those who join the military. The national figure is 72 percent. per-cent. The numbers come from the Utah System of Higher Education Educa-tion and national sources. The University of Utah had the highest retention rate at 73 percent. Utah Valley State College, which is becoming a tiy Montgomery Archaeological Consultants (MOAC) is ' hosting an Open House for our new field office on April 15th 2008, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm MOAC is a cultural resource consulting company that has worked with both the private and public sectors in the Uinta Basin for the past 20 years. We invite everyone who is interested in cultural resource management and have inquiries about our services to meet our staff and enjoy some great refreshments. Montgomery Archaeological Consultants, Inc. 148 South Vernal Avenue, Suite 103 The Pollina Corporate Top 10 ro-Business States Report for 2008 was issued last week and Utah has once again has been named to the prestigious group of most pro-business states. "For the second year in a row, Utah's political leaders have proven that they truly understand under-stand what it takes for a state to pro vide an environment for business busi-ness growth and expansion," said Brent A. Pollina, vice president of Pollina Corporate and the study's author. "Utah continues to place strongly in the areas of employee quality, good infrastructure, low corporate taxes, and high quality of life." The Pollina report is a study of the job creating and retention 'it - . - t' ieV .4 Facility Manager. Harpers Corner Road is a 32-mile 32-mile road (one-way) that leads to the heart of Dinosaur National Monument's canyon country. Several overlooks provide sweeping sweep-ing vistas of the Green and Yampa River canyons. Two trails along the road lead to the canyon rim, allowing a closer look at the Green River more than 2,000 feet below and into the ragged Split Mountain Gorge. ' ; Use caution when hiking these trails in the spring. Lingering Linger-ing snow and wet condition may make the trail slippery in places. Dinosaur's weather is unpredictable. unpredict-able. Always be prepared for a range of conditions. university, was at 53 percent. Brandon Grover of Cedar City said he dropped out of Snow College Col-lege his freshman year to work on the drilling rigs in the Uintah Basin's natural-gas fields. Now he's studying accounting on a football scholarship at Dixie State College. "My generation wants the good things right away. We're not willing to wait," Grover, 21, recently told college leaders gathered in St. George. Members of the state Board of Regents' agreed Utah must increase the number of residents with college degrees, now at 38 percent. But they're unwilling to embrace em-brace a goal suggested by Dave Buhler, interim higher education commissioner, that 61 percent of Utah adults hold degrees by Montgomery Archaeological Consultants efforts in all 50 states and the federal government. In addition to its high quality of life, last year Utah was recognized for its strongpro-business tax environment. environ-ment. "This report continues the good business news for the state of Utah. To again be recognized in the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business Pro-Business States, acknowledges the momentum Utah maintains in its job creation and retention efforts," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said. "While the national economy struggles, Utah companies com-panies continue to grow and recruit top quality professionals with long-term high paying jobs in Utah.". Pollina noted this year that Utah also has the distinction of beingrecognized as the most pro-business pro-business state with the closest proximity to West Coast markets, "lending strong weight for distribution distri-bution and other industries that rely on being a day's drive from California." The Pollina study evaluates and ranks states based on 28 factors including taxes, human resources, right-to-work legislation, legisla-tion, energy costs, infrastructure spending, workers compensation legislation and jobs lost or gained. This evaluation includes 14 state government-controlled factors based on incentive programs and state economic development departments. The study is published annually annu-ally by Chicago-headquartered Pollina Corporate Real Estate. Huntsmans donate to memorial The family of Gov. Jon Huntsman Hunts-man Jr. donated $125,000 for a bronze memorial in remembrance remem-brance of the nine people who died at Utah's Crandall Canyon mine last summer. Huntsman and his father, industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr., cut separate personal checks to save the project, which was in jeopardy because of a lack of funding. Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon said the governor handpd her the check from, his. father Wednesday after a signing ceremony cer-emony for mining-safety legislation. legisla-tion. A spokeswoman for the governor, gov-ernor, Lisa Roskelley, said the Huntsman family didn't want to make its donation public but confirmed it after The Associated Press learned about it. 2025. "Maybe the training should be where the jobs are," Nolan Karras, a regent, said. "A lot (of) the jobs don't fit well with traditional four-year degrees." Researchers recommended that each college establish retention reten-tion and graduation benchmarks, then regularly report the progress. prog-ress. "Students - our customers - come to our institutions for certificates and degrees," Buhler said. "But an alarming number - from one third to nearly one-half-go away with nothing more than a smattering of freshman classes." Colleges must tailor their programs to fit the lifestyles of students, many of whom are older, have jobs and are raising families, he said. |