| Show iry I'lf Y n nifi 3 DOW JONES at 11 am 1090101 Business Editor: Thursday May 6 1 999 commerce taxes revenue stream Met Online retailers are cutting into ey sources speakers say 1 CORUSS iy BRYAN staff LOGAN - Internet commerce is exploding and the concussion will rock Main street and City Hall speakers at a technology awards breakfast said Tuesday The problem is sales taxes Utah House West speaker Marty Stephens aid They’re not collected on sales made tver the Internet And as online retailers arve out bigger market shares they’re icing away at a key source of revenues rr C0N0MY for state and local governments he said Stephens was one of a half-doze-n speakers to address taxes and other technology issues at a breakfast meeting Tuesday that kicked off the Cache Valley Internet and Technology Expo at Utah State University’s Taggart Student Center The Internet is changing everything the speakers said It made a significant difference in how the Utah Legislature operated dunng the past session state Senate Majority Leader Lyle Hillyard said For the first time the complete text of proposed bills was available readily to a wide range of constituents he said And on two occasions those constituents found and pointed out errors in those bills which he and his staff were able to fix before they were voted on By 2002 most basic state services will be offered online Stephens said: tax forms license applications and vehicle registration A growing group of people are able to use technology to live in rural areas like the Cache Valley while working for companies as far away as California Hillyard said And distance-learnin- g programs like the ones Utah State University offers over the Internet will soon meet a need for job training and retraining that couldn’t possibly be met in traditional campus settings Hillyard said “We should never underestimate the value of incorporating advanced technology into every aspect of our lives” said Don Smellie USU’s chief of educational technology But with the benefits come new problems the speakers said The sales tax issue was on the legislators’ minds As traditional retailers lose more sales to electronic commerce it will have “a significant impact on our state See INTERNET16A Trading power BRIEF ' n TOP OF UTAH til Labor Department today that 301000 filed for jobless benefits increase of 6000 from the Jirevious week and about in line vith economists’ expectations The benefit applications had ipped below the 300000 level the previous week to 295000 I rom late January through people weekly applications number remained k below 300000 for a tretch the longest period since Job Corps representatives have begun a new recruitment campaign in Utah aimed at telling young adults about the opportunities for job training and career development U S through the Department of Labor program The campaign will educate youths about Job Corps centers throughout Region VIIVIII including the Clearfield Job Corps Center and the that demonstrating J I Courtesy Feature Photo Service with TRACKING STOCKS: Employees at Nasdaq the world’s first electronic stock market watch as a trading day unfolds in New York To keep up and second 800 trades more follows that than detection responds alert and per system exponential growth it is developing a more powerful momtonng from Unisys the system can support a $4 billion servers Windows as such on Based to technology trading developments immediately NT-bas- trading day one-thir- has kept unemployment consumers on a buying spree For the first three months of this year the overall economy grew at a robust annual rate of 45 percent The good combination of low unemployment and rapid growth is occunng in an environment with little inflation which has stayed under control despite the tight labor markets Most analysts believe the Federal Reserve which next meets to set interest rates on May 20 will be content to leave rates unchanged and let the good times keep rolling along On Wednesday the Ted said that its latest nationwide survey of economic conditions found that US manufacturers are bouncing back from Asian currency crisis The Fed said the improvement in manufacturing was broad-base- d I H r I : tj Two communication giants plan to strengthen software cable alliance Tie Associated Press NEW YORK - Deepening an alliance of titans of communica- tions and technology Microsoft Corp said today it will invest $5 billion in AT&T Corp and AT&T said it will increase its use of Microsoft’s software AT&T the nation’s No 1 telephone company is becoming the top cable TV business It will own and operate cable systems serving approximately 25 million homes after its pending acquisition of MediaOne Group Inc the nacable comtion’s fourth-largepany It already has a commitment to use a Microsoft software system in 5 million advanced set long-distan- st top devices which provide access to telephone service and the Internet for cable TV users Today’s agreement provides for expanding the software license to cover an additional 25 million to 5 million devices Microsoft the dominant maker of software for personal computers is seeking to widen its role in the Internet Wall Street cheered the deal In early trading today AT&T was up nearly 5 percent on the New York Stock Exchange rising $281 to $5975 a share Microsoft was up $150 or by nearly 2 percent at $8062 on the Nasdaq Stock Market As speculation about such a deal has grown in recent days worries have been voiced about the clout such an alliance could wield over basic communications services for consumers nic fishing pond and games were also part of the event oped the kits t : t Microsoft to invest in AT&T dren The Associated General Contractors of America devel- BUSINESS 1 Weider Fitness and Icon Health recently selected Smith Lyons Creative of Salt Lake City to develop produce and implement new packaging for their consumer products The work will initially involve the complete repackaging of more than 300 products in the fitness category to create “a more dynamic shelf appeal” logan & Associates ConMruc-o- f Centerville has donated struction education kits to e classes The e area J Upf Tool Kit is shaped Lkc dorful toolbox and includes on plans and activities deed to educate children on the struction industry’ emphu'iz-th- e positive impact on the and the importance of struction-sit- e safety for chil fifth-grad- nt tJi n IT ill fl 'it mi j fl I! n ‘u Construction Corp recently hosted 250 students from Gramcrcy Elementary School in Ogden for a “Day of Construction” as part of an ongoing eduBig-- Systems of West Jordan is seeking Salt Lake City-are- a IQ businesses of ployees to test 100 or more emnew organization- al software it has developed In- terested companies can call 7 The interactive software program called “CEO” is designed to optimize the organizational effectiveness of a company IQ Systems wants to release the product nationally this summer at a retail pnee of $4995 561-914- D cational partnership program called the “B’g-Club" Owner and former Gramercy student Jack Lningood addressed the group and students visited vari- ous Stamms to leant how a construction project proceeds A pic MourttainWcst Venture Group recently honored five Utah com- panies for completing major deals in 1998 at the Big Deal Luncheon Honorees included Ancestry xom which completed a $123 million financing with CMG Intel and Uasatch Ven- tures Evans ti Sutherland which acquired Accel Graphics for $53 9 million and Silicon Reality But AT&T stressed that it is not ruling out similar agreements with other technology businesses saying its arrangement with Microsoft is a “nonexclusive agreement” AT&T repeated today that it software intends to use set-to- p from multiple suppliers It also plans to license Microsoft software for digital services to interacranging from tive TV Such enhanced service is to be tested in what the companies said would be two “showcase cities” by the spring of 2000 AT&T also said it plans to use Microsoft's software in conjunction with another company’s software in a third city The cities were not identified Microsoft said it would buy $5 billion in AT&T securities that will be convertible into 667 million shares of AT&T stock and entered into a strategic partnership with Intel SBI Holdings which completed a preferred deal stock and convertible-deb- t for $50 million through the investors Cerberus Capital and GE Capital SkyWest which completed a secondary common stock offering valued at $567 million and Zions Bancorpora-tio- n which had 12 bank acquisitions in three stales America First Credit Union won four Diamond Marketing Awards at an International Marketing Conference in Sante Le NM The credit union won first place in “Name That Sound" radio second places in “Unexpected Rates” radio and overall m “Radio Humor” and second place in the “Overall Campaign" competition for the PC Access Home Banking campaign Utah's 1999 Scenic Calendar has again received recognition Huntsman Corp gets bigger The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY -Huntsman Corp the largest private chemical company in the world has become a little bit bigger by purchasing Rho-di- a SA's poly ether polyol business announced The move Tuesday gives Huntsman surer footing in the polyurethane business “These two acquisitions together with our existing polyols and urethane catalysts businesses give Huntsman a strong position as a world supplier to the polyurethane markets" President and CEO Peter R Huntsman said in a release from the Calendar Marketing Association The Utah Travel Council's calendar won Gold and Merit honors in the 1999 World and National Calendar Awards competition The Gold award was in the category “Best ScemcOther Photography CustomCorpo-rate- ” in the wall calendar divi- sion Uiah won the Merit award for “Best Graphic Design” The calendar also was a finalist in the “Best of Show” category BSD Medical Corp of Salt Lake City has received ISO 9001 and 46001 certification for the design manufacturing and servicing of its heat therapy systems and contract manufacturing services This approval from DE Testing and Certification Institute certifies that the company maintains its quality system to the standards set forth by the International Organization for Stan- See BiZWATCH 1 6A estimates it takes Utahns 127 days of earnings to pay all the taxes: 86 for federal and 41 for both state and local The foundation is a nonprofit educational foundation monitoring fiscal policy at all levels of government on matters of tax policy Part of Morris Travel being sold SALT LAKE CITY -- Morris Travel announced Wednesday it is divesting to American Express Travel Related Services Co Inc its corporate travel division and eight leisure travel locations Oregon and in Washington Morris Travel will retain the rest of its leisure travel division American Express will assume ownership of Morris’ corporate division’s 1 50 agents managers and administrative staff The deal is effective June 7 Morris also announced that officers Mark Slack Brian Hollien Margaret Tippetts Dennis James and Tony Swenson are buying the company from Las Yamagata Enterprises the owner since d Vegas-base- 1995 MARKETS NORTHWEST GRAIN WHT- - My ? POuA'fcu-fOOW" ? tu l"y 1 IWtMflv 14 pare' mnrg 3 27 (Oon 1) O'tVary 2) 2 73 OGDt N WM barfy 3 T tsir9y) 14 so'Ttf 3 06 i0own 1) 11 2 45 (Cfown 1) 3 72 1) PORTLAND - WMt 06 tartev B£) 00 6t (HMCTyl parcal nrtr 3 19 CAcPWFu - Whaa wne owl 4 00 itfMdy) iftaaOy) baney '' 4 0rcr t''' W4 tSTy tyw 4X METALS PRICES Wwrwday AC 1 cents par Ujrnor MK4 ECW A 71 Coocwr L3 Z'K 30 nrt of S4 V- - A V Pwtwjm y t y - $2 HI om at N troy ot at NT 90 SOOt "3 a ls fttorc7 V M OOt INTEREST RATES c i jr "c ty - Al irt ‘ji iU The Tax Foundation 1973 America’s sparkling economy is continuing to power ahead despite overseas financial turmoil d of the that has pushed world into recession W'hile more than 300000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past year reflecting lost export markets for American companies the continued low j1 young participants nine-wee- percent n’t Job Corps seeks WASHINGTON DC -- Utah can celebrate Tax Freedom Day on Friday this year according to the Tax Foundation The day signifies that between Jan 1 and Friday Utah’s taxpayers worked to earn enough money to pay all their federal state and local taxes The national average is Tuesday This year’s Utah date is the same as last year when Tax Freedom Day landed on the latest date ever for the state’s taxpayers Its earliest Utah date since 1 970 wasApril20m1971 P 29-ye- ar rl oi Tax Freedom Day Friday in Utah number of Americans filing Applications for unemployment I benefits rose slightly last week after two consecutive weekly The government is scheduled to issue the unemployment report for April on Friday and many economists believe it will low of 42 remain at a 15A 5 UTAH Increase after pair of declines was predicted by economists I WASHINGTON - The the 1 466-573- 7 rl mid-Mar- 5440 Weber Basin Civilian Conservation Center in Ogden The campaign will target people ages 16 through 24 More information is available or visiting by calling the Job Corps national Web site at www jobcorpsorg obless laims on the rise declines I The 625-424- -- Standard-Examine-r and i o 3 44 4 ?4 4 AT 49 5 V staf wire services is |
