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Show Page Two - The Springville Herald - January 25, 1989 EDITORIAL What services are coming? In response to US West's letter last week, it is interesting to note that finally Springville is going to get the same scrviee this coming November that even Ncphi has had such as electronic switching, call forwarding etc. Also we have been told for years that we were going to get new services, but only to be put off by the company so that other communities communi-ties could get the service such as Nephi. Second, the company says that Extended Area Service affects everyone's monthly billing, but they don't say how much, in fact they don't even give a percentage or any indication of how much more customers in Provo pay for the extra services they get over Spri ngville or other Utah County Communities. Interestingly enough, we tried to find out by going over to the Provo office. The only service we could get was the impersonal chance to call a company number on one of their sterile desks located in their lobby to ask the girl who answered a question about billing. She didn't know any more than we did. She put us on hold and then proceeded to forget we were on the line. So we ask, how do we get rate information? Is it big bucks to be able toeall all over the countyand if this is the case why aren't the people in Provo and Orem complaining? And lastly we ask US West, as they indicate, to explain the new features that they arc going to provide customers here and in Maplcton. Yes Mr. Linton, don't be shy. Let us knowwhai is happening in our area. We are all interested. Senior's Legislature will go after tax credits An increase in properly tax credits cred-its is just one of the topics that Senior Citizens will discuss when an estimated 600 Utah seniors attend at-tend Senior Citizen Days at the Legislature. Registration will begin be-gin between 9 and 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 25. Utah has more than 160,000 residents resi-dents over the age of sixty. Polls indicate that seniors represent the largest voting block by age in the state. "The laws and decisions made today will impact everyone in years to come. It is important that -all voters take an active interest in issues which affect senior citizens. Everyone has an aunt, uncle, parent par-ent or grandparent who can be affected, af-fected, but more important, the yuppies of today are the senior citizens citi-zens of tomorrow," stated Senior Legislature Chairman Henry Willsen. All meetings will be held in the State Office Building Auditorium, directly north of the State Capital Building. Legislation supported by seniors will include appropriations for programs assisting older Utahns, increase-in property lax credit for low-income older Utahns (Circuit I ;',.-- f II J I ' ItW. m v'V!BWnw : si . 1 sir I ii-i4U , i Ska, Darrell Rulow, Claims Representative for the Social Security Office in Provo, spoke to members of the Springville Kiwanis Club Thursday. Cleon Craig, right, served as toastmaster. Mr. Rulow outlined many of the changes in Social Security payments that were made January 1. He also described the changes that were made in Medicare payments to people who were receiving Social Security and enrolled in Medicare programs, lie also explained the changes that were made by the catastrophic healthcare bill passed by Congress. He stated that any individuals who had questions about Medicare payments should call his office. Thursday members and partners will hear Karolyn McNeil, President of Utah Mountainland Power System. pringmlk (UPS 513 - Published Weekly by Art City Publishing Co., Inc. 161 South Main Street Springville, Utah 84663 Phone 489-5651 Publisher , .. . Martin W. Conovvr Editor Patricia Conover Managing Editor .... Betty Lou Bailey POSTMASTER: PUat nd chang of addrt to Tha Sprlngvlll Harald, 161 South Main St., SpringvllU, UT 84663. Second class postogt paid at Sprtngvillo, UT 84663. Subscriptions in Advance per year $15.00 Out of County Subscriptions per year $18.00 Per copy 50'. Delivered by carrier, per month, $1.50 Member Utah Press Association Breaker), committees of consumer services reauthorization,and itemized item-ized hospital billing. Sponsored by the Utah Seniors Legislature, Senior Days at the Legislature is a forum where legislators legis-lators discuss bills of interest to seniors, and seniors' lobby legislators legisla-tors on bills and concerns. The morning session will begin with a welcome from the Governor's Gover-nor's Office, overview of bills, w hich have high priority with seniors, and lobbying of legislators in the Capital. Capi-tal. Many Legislators and seniors then have lunch together back at the State Office Building Auditorium. Audito-rium. To reserve lunches, or for further information, please contact your local senior center. Stop swelling Ice is nice for swelling from injuries, inju-ries, but research shows that ice over an elastic wrap is a one-two punch that works even belter. Ice constricts blood vessels, which limits swelling and further damage to the injured area. Wraps do the same by compressing the space in the injured in-jured area where blood can How. t ! Mtxnib 060) Citizen's r Legislature Utah Issues 11th Annual Citizen's Citi-zen's Day at the Legislature will be held Friday, February 3, in the first floor auditorium of the State Office Of-fice Building from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The conference, sponsored by Utah Issues and numerous community com-munity groups, offers an opportunity opportu-nity for citizens concerned about legislation and budgets affecting low-income low-income Utahns to discuss issues informally with legislators. "Taxes and revenue decisions are at the top of the agenda for this session of the Legislature," according accord-ing to Bill Walsh, director of Utah Issues. "We will work to assure that changes in Utah's tax policies will benefit those who need tax relief the most, and that tax cuts do not hurt services essential to Utah's poor, working poor, elderly, and handicapped citizens. In order to influence tax and revenue decisions, low-income Utahns need to be actively involved in the legislative process, and participating in Citizens' Citi-zens' Day is one way to do so," Walsh said. In the morning session, Governor Gover-nor Norman Bangerter or a member mem-ber of his staff will welcome citizens citi-zens to the event, and background information on low-income issues like funding for public assistance, child care, job training, welfare reform, health care and housing will be presented. Legislators will join citizens for a box lunch at noon to share ideas and concerns. Afternoon tours of the Capital will be provided for those interested. The conference and luncheon is free to the public. Donations are welcomed. For reservations and further information, call Utah Issues Is-sues at 521-2035. Where is o petition? Editor: U.S. West says if you want a wider . local calling area, you "must present pres-ent a petition." Pray tell, Mr. Linton, Lin-ton, to whom or what august body should the "petition" be delivered? Not having been in the petition business lately, we don't have any forms handy. If we call on U.S. West will we be furnished official forms for the stated purpose. Who would qualify to circulate the petition? Who would qualify to sign the petition? What if one doesn't have a telephone? (Bite your tongue), but does use a pay phone regularly. Before we sign up as petitioners or petitionees, shouldn't we be privileged with existing rates for sister cities that have already petitioned peti-tioned U.S. West successfully? Please notify this possible petitioner peti-tioner in your response where this information may be secured. Richard Harrigan Police report Springville Police were summoned to a ten-car pilcup last Friday on SR-77. Fog was blamed for the accident which sent two persons to the hospital after a vehicle stopped for a train and others following couldn't see through the fog. Theodore P. Lindsey, 255 South 300 West, Springville, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Warren Brady, 469 North Main, Springville, was arrested for shoplifting at Happy Service Market. Mar-ket. A teenager was taken to the hospital hos-pital after an apparent drug overdose. over-dose. Three juvenile males were reported missing from Youth Corrections. Cor-rections. Two other male juveniles were picked up after their disappearance disap-pearance from Heritage School. An assault was reported at the jr. high between two female juveniles. Vandalism was reported at the Sumsion Egg Farm after someone broke windows attempting to get in. A tool box with $200 worth of tools in it was taken from a vehicle and there was a theft of custom window blades from another car. There were two reports of obscene ob-scene phone calls, an assault between be-tween two men, and an assault, involving in-volving a man with a gun. Police responded to 26 animal related calls including five cardeer accidents. The youngest individual Olympic winner was American Marjorie Gesiring who look the springboard diving title at the age of 13 years 268 days at the 1936 Olympics. &prininifUe Hcralii COMMENT PAGE Tax check-off Editor: , The 1989 tax form contains a new line entitled, "Voluntary contributions contribu-tions to assist the homeless." I hope you will consider giving to this worthy cause. Have you seen homelessness? Suffering is an experience common to all of humanity, but there are depths of sorrow, hopelessness, and despair that we ourselves may seldom sel-dom experience and yet, if we but look, seems to surround us. Thinking back on last winter, I remember some of those homeless people I briefly saw or talked with in Salt Lake City. One of my visits was to a food kitchen; just leaving was a young family. The mother looked tired, her eyes dulled, her soul heavy; the father's shoulders seemed laden with a heavy burden as he so gently and tenderly d i reeled h is sma 1 1 ch i ldren out into the cold. I sat, and watched, as they silently left the shelter. I also visited a school for the homeless; Utah is the only state with such a "school." The children are young. When 1 asked the children chil-dren what they would wish for - it was a home. They were like my own children, Tax cheating may be costing Utah $100 million per year Although the income tax system of the United States has one of the highest voluntary compliance levels lev-els in the world, tax evasion continues contin-ues to be a serious problem despite tax reforms designed to make the system more equitable and efficient. This was the conclusion of a study prepared by Utah Foundation, the private tax research organization. The foundation report indicates that 83 of the taxes owed on legal income in the United States is voluntarily vol-untarily reported and paid, but the 17 that is not paid translated into a federal tax gap of S85 billion for the 1987 tax year. The Internal Revenue Service expects this tax gap to widen to S144 billion by 1992. Noncompliance has been increasing at an annual rate of approximately 4.1 after an adjustment ad-justment for inflation. While the study was confined to the federal tax system, the tax evasion eva-sion problem also has a serous impact on the state tax system. Utah's individual income tax law is based on the federal tax code. Thus, if an individual in Utah cheats on his federal tax, he also will be cheating on his state tax. Foundation analysts point out that if the 17 national noncompliance Thank you family, friends and public safety people We want to lake this opportunity to thank everyone that helped us at the time of our cars and house fire. Needless to say, it is a very traumatic trau-matic and shocking experience to go through. We especially want to thank Alfred Lee, who was a concerned enough neighbor to go out of his way to check the suspicious smoke he saw. If it weren't for him, the fire and our family would have been worse. Our special thanks go out to him. We want to thank the Springville Fire Department for their quick response and their ability to take care of a very bad situation. I know the time is such a vital factor in something like this. They were so caring and understanding to us as neighbors and friends, not just single people. We were so pleased to see that they cared enough to get our parakeet out of the smoky house. He is 12 years old and a big part of our family. Everyone was very concerned con-cerned about his safety. He is doing just fine. When we had to go to the hospital hospi-tal that night, we were not the least bit worried about the house being secured and taken care of, there wereso many concerned family memDers and friends taking charge, lhat we felt very confident in being able to leave. There arc sb many people we need to thank, all of our family that did more than I could haveever expected ex-pected of them. Our friends that took so much of their time to do so much. Jess, wc wanuto thank you for always being there to help. The fire department, ambulance, and all the caring neighbors that have made it all so much easier for us. can help the but with sadder eyes, more tired, with less of that hope and exuberance exuber-ance of youth. As we talked, one young boy, about 7, leaned up against mc as if for human comfort, protection, human warmth as he shared his feelings and thoughts. I couldn't help but think of my own family and also the many wealthy who have so much, oblivious to the needs of this child. Later, in the shopping mall, surrounded sur-rounded by spending and getting,! talked with an attractive young women who had not eaten for some time; she was still too fearful to go to the shelters, not as innocent as the child. But she too had hopes, dreams, fears-fears all too real. As she said, she "didn't think anyone gave a In return for food money, she insisted that I have her good luck crystal. I still have it. It is clear, faceted, but with a surface sur-face cracked from being dropped or knocked too many times. Giving seemed important to her. There were other homeless people, not all gentle. Their souls reflecting reflect-ing too much the darkness of their experience. Misery has many faces. rate is assumed to apply in Utah, it would mean that tax cheaters are costing the state about S100 million mil-lion per year in lost individual income in-come tax revenue. The huge and growing tax gap results in millions of honest, conscientious con-scientious taxpayers carrying the burden of those who choose to evade their legal tax obligations. In effect, it redistributes income from honest hon-est taxpayers to dishonest taxpayers. taxpay-ers. The study reported that tax cheating is costing the average person who pays an honest federal tax about S642 per year. Tax evasion also aggravates the federal deficit problem. The federal fed-eral budget has not been balanced since 1969, and budgetary deficits have added nearly Sl.7 trillion to the federal debt over the past 19 years. The tax gap of SS5 billion for the 1987 tax year was equal to about 55 of the federal deficit for that year. According to the study, tax evasion eva-sion clearly threatens the voluntary volun-tary compliance that is basic to the American tax system. If some individuals indi-viduals arc allowed to cheat with impunity, honest taxpayers begin to question the entire system. Although Al-though experts agree that the tax gap cannot be closed completely, it The Bowers for so readily offering us theirapartment which is soclose and convenient to our own home. We want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts. Mary Jo and John Robertson When putting in screens for warm weather, either clean with a hand brush or the vacuum cleaner dusting dust-ing attachment. Windowpanes will stay cleaner and more sunlight will filter through clean screens. pwix Professional Electronic Repair 230 South Main Springville 489-9521 Computers Fined We also repair TV's, Stereos and VCR's 40 Work Guaranteed For 90 Dsys fio CksrgQ Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ddly Saturday by cppointiaent homeless Christ appealed to us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bring the poor who are cast out into our homes; who more personifies this need than the homeless men, women and children we mayor may not see around us. "The poor are always with us." Mother Teresa feels the poor are a blessing to us who have more, an opportunity to love. I hope this year when you come to this new line on your Utah income tax form, you will give generously. Donations go into a special trust account, specifically aimed at programs pro-grams for the homeless who are mentally ill and the homeless who are families with children; for self-sufficiency self-sufficiency and shelter; and with administrative costs limited to 3. I developed the tax check-off program, with the input and support sup-port of many others, because I wanted to do something about what I saw. I hope you will take the opportunity to do something too. Give generously, it will mean hope, comfort, and a chance at a respectable respect-able life for real people in need. Representative Franklin C. Prante is extremely important thai tax evasion be minimized and the problem prob-lem kept manageable. The Internal Revenue Service analysis shows that evasion of individual indi-vidual income taxes during the 1987 tax year totaled S63.5 billion, while improper corporate tax returns accounted for S2 1.4 billion. Of the three possible sources of tax gap-the gap-the underrcportcd income, overstated over-stated deductions, and credits and math errors-undcrrcportcd income by individual filers is by far the most important. It accounted for S4S.3 billion, or 57 of the 1987 tax gap. The Utah Foundation report observes that part of the tax gap problem may bedue to unnecessarily unnecessar-ily complicated tax laws. The 1986 Tax Reform Act, for example, contained con-tained approximately 1,850 separate sepa-rate amendments to the federal tax code. The Internal Revenue Service Serv-ice still has not drafted many of the regulations that would clarify some of the changes. This uncertainty tends to foster frustration and noncompliance on the part of the taxpayer. Thus, the foundation observes that "some of the failure to comply may not be intentional, but rather reflects uncertainty as to what the tax laws actually mean." City Council Continue from page 1 S275. Large lots, residents, increase from S185 to S250, non-residents, decrease from S3 10 to $250. City Cemetery: plot fee will stay the same, $150 for residents and decrease from $170 to $150 for nonresidents. non-residents. Sextant fees: increase from $125 to S150 for residents; infants, $70; increase from $140 to S250 for nonresidents non-residents and increase from $90 to $150 for non-resident infants. Weekend or holiday burial will include an extra S50 fee because of overtime for people who close the graves. 1 |