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Show Sunday, January Opinions UPI Pulse Report 29,1984 THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, - Page 43 The Herald, its readers, syndicated columnists and cartoonists discuss vital issues The Herald Comments SPCOT FOIL 0 llil VW4 Wall IVjh-- Acc u ... I T WML I IMIll-ui. IIIA UlCllNtT u ix " n.L.w. u .'...... r .rT 3 ouivt y L WUnl.U I .ftwilir hrvnf -" census bureau irom Uiimnij ine sharing personal dala on individuals with other government was a one On the other hand when it conies proper agencies to criminal investigations, the tiles of the IRS should be more accessible. Ilk r l personal data with other government agencies? Definitely yes Probably no EL14 I 16 1 65 Definitely no k 10 Should information from tax returns be proviaea by the investigations? Probably yes - -- -r JKt 1 1 1 Definitely no coupled with tax 56 line. Citizens Want Census Reports Kept Private "' accessible. Two-thir- of those surveyed percent) at the Walt Disney World Epcot Center felt a recent ruling prohibiting data sharing (65 by the Census Bureau was prog per, regardless of the benefits. But when it comes to investigating major crime, 56 percent of those surveyed said the IRS files should be made available to investigators. Oddly, older participants were more opposed to sharing census data while they were more supportive of sharing tax return information. The survey, conducted in association with the marketing research frim of Yankelovich, Skelly and White, Inc., is based on a sample size of 5,500 U.S. adults. faculty and staff of Valley View Elementary School. Your "The Herald Comments; Parents Must Educate Kids" was excellent. Thanks Mt. View Teachers The Mountain View High School PTA wishes to express its appreciation to the faculty and staff of the MVHS for the tremendous job of teaching and instructing our children. We as parents admire the love that you show, the time that you give, the talents that you share, and the positive attitudes that you influence our youth with that attend Mountain View High. Our hats are off to each and every one of you. We also hope that you have enjoyed the notes, flowers and goodies that you have received this past week. Mrs. Eileen Sammis MVHS PTA President 970 N. 680 W. Orem Writer Fed Up With Taxes Editor, Herald: I am writing this letter as a taxpayer and am about fed up in Utah. Utah voters felt that property taxes were getting too high and decided to support Proposition 1. Instead of taxes going down, they went up. 1983 property taxes were $79 ,. million higher than they were in 1982 or 17 percent higher. Property taxes on my home this year were $925 of which $556 was for ' public education. I have a vacant lot and its property tax was of which $134 was for public education. It will soon be 10 vears since 1 have had a child in the public 'schools. The above taxes will go on for the rest of my life I am ,sure. State income taxes have !also been going up. Governor .Matheson wants $150 million ;more in taxes (for this year alone) for public education. When I hear the teacher's stories I shed tears, but I shed bigger tears for me. Governor Matheson wants nis increase in taxes spread around in different categories but I seem to fit in every category so whom is he kidding? I thought I could get out of the severence tax category but there is a way to pass that on to me too. Till now I think the Utah legislature has done a very good job holding the line with about a 65 percent increase in teacher compensation in past six years. If at this time they decide to lift Utah public education teachers completely out of their economic plight with both feet on top of me, there will be a great deal of soul searching when the next election rolls around. Another person who wrote a letter like this got some "hate" mail. I guess that is the risk we take! H. Johnson 1125 N. Main St. Orem at Home Discipline Begins the whole Editor, Herald: I feel I must reply to your Herald Comment Wednesday, Jan. 18. After talking with many teachers their problem is not salary nor kids, but parents. Parents do not discipline or teach their kids, at home, that they are sent to school to learn. The only time they see parents is if they try to discipline an unruly child, who is disturbing coalition also mentioned. A plan supported by Sen. Jake Garn, which would increase R-Uta- tighten tax loopholes, to estimates substantial tious objectors" savings by implementing this program. be taxed by citing con- pensions more in line with private sector plans. Even the defense budget should not remain sacred. Obvious examples of waste in the defense department have been uncovered and must be corrected in order to bring defense spending down. This should be done sensitively without hurting national security. All federal procure- ment must be done by competitive bid to lower costs. Members of the so-call- in- come tax and refuse to Bringing federal ed "underground h, the retirement age by adding one month per year for 36 years. Garn economy" who refuse to pay income taxes must be required to pay. Peo- ple who are "conscien stitutional objections are an offense to most Americans who understand that no country can function without taxation. Tax loopholes allowing the rich to pay little in taxes must be closed, and the entire tax struc- ture must be simplified to make it easier to detect fraud, tax abuse and tax evasion. The task lying ahead in Congress is a formidable one. Congressional delegates must be willing to compromise in order to cut federal spending before the country is sent into a dangerous downward economic spiral. But it can be done. And it can be done without higher taxes. Women May Swing the Election In just the past year two million new jobs have been Women could decide who will be the next president of the United States. In 1980 more women than men voted. They may again in 1984. added to our economy, dropping the unemployment rate for adult women from 9.2 percent to 7.9 President Reagan's refusal to ERA hurt him politically with some women; his perpetuation of military draft registration is resented by others. Is it possible this handsome, charming president is getting a bum rap? He thinks he is. He says the issue of his attitude percent. The administration believes we of the media have been ignoring constructive accom- endorse plishments which benefit women: virtual elimination of the widow's tax, reduction in the marriage tax penalty. When IRAs were expanded, women benefited most. As when larger tax credits were allowed working mothers for child care. Retirement and pension plans no longer penalize women. Three million women now own businesses and that number is growing faster than the number d of businesses. For the first time federal job training was specifically targeted to women. sur- Let's see, if we can, through BoydMcAffee Staff at Mountain View High School: Matheson's dema-goguery- ." Robert H. Sandstrom Paul Schoonover Fran Nicholes and 15 other concerned educators 395 E. 100 N. Provo Editor, Herald: A special thanks from the t ment programs, which progress can be made on cutting the deficit without increasing taxes. The difficult part will be getting Congress to agree on where to cut spending and how to toward women has been rounded with "a fog of Valley View Likes Editorial Editor, Herald Open letter to the Faculty and Stricter eligibility requirements for entitle- It seems clear, however, that substantial Tax Hake W cost-savin- Feedback I I cuts are numerous. Some obvious possibilities include: spending in- creases in order to get the $1.2 trillion deficit in 7 Yankelovich, Skelly and White.) LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (UPI) According to a survey on information sharing between government agencies, most of those surveyed for the Epcot Poll felt Census Bureau files should be off limits. On the other hand, if the information can be used to apprehend criminals, participants felt IRS files should be more . n, spending cuts should be 28 (Editor's note: The following Epcot Poll was conducted at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center. Visitors to Epcot are polled daily and their responses are tabulated by computer. The results of the poll are analyzed by the New York research firm of Mathe-so- suggested that I""! 9 Probably no including Utah Gov. Scott 38 18 Most recently, a bipartisan coalition of governors, IRS in major criminal Definitely yes No opinion , election year. What all members of the House and Senate must realize is that a runaway federal deficit can potentially do as much harm to Americans as a military con? frontation. The very real threat of a debilitating depression exists until Congress can control its budgetary appetite. Possible targets for Suggestions on ways to cut the deficit are coming from all sides. J 49 No opinion especially during an There is bipartisan agreement in Washington that the federal deficit must be lowered, but that's where the agreement ends. Should the Census Bureau share Probably yes Budget Needs program. the fog. From historical perspective this president has done nothing more significant than reducing inflation to 2.4 percent last year, the least in 17 years. He believes that women should appreciate that. The prime interest rate is down from a Carter administration high of 21Vi percent to about half that. The president authorized "flextime" work schedules to accommodate' working mothers, so that they could adjust their schoolday. Women still do not receive equal pay for equal work despite laws which provide that they should. The average working woman takes home about less than the average man Tjr r n one-thi- rd who is similarly employed. But President Reagan is supporting changes in 112 federal laws which discriminate against women and has established a project to assist governors who are willing similarly to modify discriminatory state laws. Then, of course, this president has placed more women in top policy-makin- g positions than has any other president in a comparable period of time. They include the familiar ones plus 1,200 other women in executive positions. So the potentially decisive women's vote in the next election could go either way. One of the things this presi- dent has going for him is his mutually respectful working partnership with his own wife. Paul Harvey This may be unrelated but ... There's an old Ron Reagan TV in movie still on late-nigwhich an Oriental says, "In my country a man tells a woman what to do!" And Mr. Reagan replies, "Oh? And how is your country doing?" ht Congressional Quarterly Reagan Did Lots in Three Years care and Social Security, by far the largest components of the government's social spending, have continued their galloping By ALAN MURRAY Congressional Quarterly - On the afWASHINGTON ternoon of Aug. 13, 1981, Ronald Reagan signed two bills into law. One cut government spending by $130 billion over three years; the other cut taxes by $750 billion over five years. With that stroke of his trend reversed a that had started with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and created new ground rules for political debate that will dominate the 1984 presidential campaign. "In 190 days," write The New York Times, "President Reagan has not only wrought a dramatic conservative shift in the nation's economic policies and the role of the federal government in American life, but has also swept to a political mastery of Congress not seen since Lyndon Johnson." Whatever one may say about the effects of Reagan's tax and budget cuts, there is no disputing 50-ye-ar their effect on the nation's governmental agenda. Democrats have become the party of the status quo ante, fighting to restore a portion of the governmental edifice that existed through the 1970s. But even among Democrats, few have advocated reinstating all the old programs, much less creating new ones. "The agenda really has changed," says Thomas E. Where are these parents, when Mann, a political scientist and adjunct scholar at the American school? Many fathers haven't been working, and it seems they could be giving more time to their children, rather than to their own pleasures of the evenings. Alyce Graham 979 S. 450 E. Orem has altered the terms on which politicians talk about govern- they should be supervising homework, TV etc., after men-owne- work day to their children's Enterprise Institute. "Reagan ment." To be sure, Reagan has not stopped the growth of government spending. The cuts of 1981 were soon overwhelmed by increases in defense spending and interest payments on the expanding federal debt. And Medi n growth. This month, as he entered his fourth year in office, Reagan faced the prospect of future federal deficits of $200 billion and more a year. But while he endorses the concept of a balanced budget and even a constitutional amendment that would require one, he steadfastly refuses to bargain with Congress on deficit reductions, at least if that requires substantial tax increases or defense spending cuts. In his second two years as president, Reagan's ability to wring concessions from Congress diminished. He spent much of his time fighting to protect ground he had already captured, a holding action that succeeded for the most part. Programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches, Aid to Families with Dependent children, jobs programs and a host of smaller aid plans have absorbed tremendous cuts. Funding for most social pro- grams, aside from Social Security nd Medicare, was set back by more than a decade, when measured as a proportion of the nation's total output of goods and services. But to date, if public opinion polls are any guide, the Reagan presidency seems to have withstood the many political barbs that have been hurled at it. Reagan backers who were most concerned about social issues abortion, busing, prayer in schools have felt snubbed by their president. Reagan used his electoral mandate to push through his economic proposals, shoving the social issues to a back burner, where they have remained. Reagan's early legislative successes were particularly impressive because of the changes that had taken place in Congress in the preceding decades. Unlike President Roosevelt, whose initial legislative program flew through Congress in a matter of weeks, Reagan was not working with an institution tightly controlled by its leaders. Members today feel perfectly free to take positions at odds with their party leaders. Of course, Reagan's first three years in office will be remembered for more than his tax and gan seemed to be moving toward warmer relations with the Soviets. But the Sept. 1 destruction by a Soviet fighter plane of a Korean Air Lines jet, with 269 persons aboard, reversed that trend and brought relations between the two superpowers to their lowest point in years. The breakdown of key arms control talks added to the super- spending revolution. In seeking suggestions that they would quickly return. Early in 1984, Reagan made a new effort to encourage the Soviets to resume those negotia- achieving both. With congressional consent, Reagan launched a massive increase in the government's spending on national defense. In part because of the swelling deficit, however, Congress has never approved all the defense money Reagan sought. tions. The second crucial event came on Oct. 23, with the deaths of more than 200 Marines in a terrorist bombing in Beirut. Despite growing pressure for a withdrawal, Reagan vowed to keep them in Lebanon until that country could achieve some sort of national reconciliation. A rapid pullout, he argued, would be a victory for the Soviet Union and encourage terrorists to strike again. Just days after the Beirut bombing, Reagan launched another bold foreign policy move the invasion of the small Caribbean island of Grenada. the presidency., Reagan had called for a stronger defense and less government regulation. He succeeded, to a degree, in Congress went along with most of the administration's requests for new weapons systems, such as the B- bomber and two additional nuclear aircraft carriers A few other proposals, notably the administration's plan to resume production of lethal chemical weapons after a long moratorium, were not accepted. Reagan did not bring to the -l presidency any fixed foreign policy goals, and the first two years of his term were focused more on domestic than on international concerns. Events in the fall of 1983, however, brought foreign policy to the fore and saw a growing Reagan reliance on the use or threat of U.S. military might to achieve policy objectives. During much of the year, Rea power tension. The Soviets walked out of arms negotiations in Geneva after the United States moved to deploy medium-rang- e missiles in Western Europe, and denounced Reagan's Reagan defended the move, which followed a coup by a hardline Marxist faction, as essential to prevent the island from beocming a Soviet or Cuban military base. The invasion apparently drew widespread support in the United States. Congress has been restive, however, about Reagan's military aid to the government of El Salvador for use against g left-win- guerrillas. |