| Show - — —- 5zar--- - - — thS qii'lle 1 dOdir"W galit Kitibunts salt Sunday September 3 1989 Tribune Editorials Page 18 lion !wet As Many Utahns as Possible lig !' : 7 le 49 supporters of Gov Norm Ban- plan describe it as the fairest and the most feasible'' for this month's special legislative session They're wrong on both counts Most of the governor's $29 million reduction would be achieved by increasto the ing from amount of federal income taxes that could be deducted from state tax returns Because that change would mostly benefit Utah's wealthiest taxpayers it isn't the fairest approach And because it would be just as easy technically and politically to spread the reduction among more Utalms it isn't the most feasible One popular misconception supporting the governor's proposal holds that recent restrictions on federal deductibility created the budget surplus that made a tax cut possible But the issue istil that simple Federal income tax reform in 1986 reduced rates and eliminated several deductions broadening Utah's tax base and generating a state revenue windfall during an economic slump Legislators used the opportunity to revise an increasingly regressive tax code in 1987 The federal deduction was eliminated and the standard deduction and personal exemption were raised as a neutral political compromise to ease the relative tax burden on middle and lower income residents being asked to pay higher sales cigarette and gasoline taxes (Dropping federal deductibility raised state revenue $100 million: the other change reduced it $100 Million) Inflation since Utah's tax structure was established in 1973 had in effect doubled the tax load of middle and lower income taxpayers while cutting that of upper income residents in half Like most states Utah misjudged the impact of federal reform Unlike some Utah underestimated the windfall as well as economic growth and now must decide how to handle the unexpected revenue But unlike most states Utah is restoring federal tax deductibility If Utah's income tax was regressive in 1987 fully restoring the federal deduction the governor's apparent goal will make it even more so one-thir- one-hal- f d revenue-- el - Despite the states six tax brackets inflation has put nearly 60 percent of taxpayers at the top Therefore the highest rate — 735 percent — applies to all taxable income above $7500 for married taxpayers filing a joint return Residents in only two other states without flat rates Maryland and Alabama — pay the highest rate on less income What's more Utahns whose taxable income exceeds $100000 pay less than the regional average for state income taxes while Utalms making $60000 or less pay more than average As state Democrats pointed out early last week 33 percent of the proposed $20 million tax cut for federal deductibility would go to the wealthiest 5 percent of Utah taxpayers The poorest 42 percent would receive just 7 percent By claiming larger deductions on their state taxes then Utah's upper income residents would pay an even smaller relative share of state taxes than they do now Tax brackets would have to be and rates raised to offset the spread negative impact on lower income Utahns but that couldn't occur without a larger state budget surplus to finance it Other states are rejecting federal deductibility in favor of keeping their tax rates low for economic development purposes They also realize their state budgets are vulnerable to federal tax changes when allowing federal tax deductions Instead of spending $20 million to raise federal deductibility legislators should expand the state's tax brackets and if possible slightly reduce rates within those income levels so the greatest number of Utahns can share in this year's tax cut That change wouldn't be any more complex than the governor's plan and should be easier to get through which the House of Representatives has rejected federal deductibility in the past Now because of the surplus legislators have a chance to restore progressivity — and greater equity — to Utah's income tax system without harming any segment of the taxpaying public They should use that chance to redistribute the tax burden because it could be a long time before they have a similar opportunity and because such a change could strengthen the buying power of most Utahns benefiting the entire state questions remain about the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to require installation of apparently explosive detection devices at 40 of the world's busiest instate-of-the-a- rt ternational airports First just how effective are these gadgets? Some experts claim not effective enough primarily because they won't detect small in the range bombs The FAA counters the devices especially the one dubbed TNA (for Thermal Neutron Analysis) have been "shown to have the highest degree of explosives detection currently possible for detecting known civilian and military explosives manufactured here and abroad" That isn't what worries people like Lee Grodzins of Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is an FAA consultant Ile says there is "no question" the TNA machine would be impractical as a scanner for bombs weighing 1 pound or one-poun- d less Also according to Grodzins if cranked up to detect small bombs the devices become quite indiscriminate triggering alarms when they sense wool nylon leather plastic ski boots and some foods'' — items that have nitrogen densities as high as plastic explosives Ile didn't even mention soiled underwear The FAA says not to worry Its tests with a prototype at New York's Kennedy International Airport using 12 simu1f(1 radio bombs detected 10 of them about an 84 percent success rate ir stated more ominously that leaves a ft percent chance of a bomb getting ahoard a plane Put that in the context that officials !IO'nv think it was only one bomb that iIasted Pan Am Flight 103 out of the eottish skies last December claiming 270 lives Then there's reason to beLeve if MIT's Grodzins' views are that with the TNA devices a "16 1reent window" exists through which wough destructive material to destroy -- 1 ( via-H- e ()thing Serious® ljny politicians are honest pro nig out u lU that no handicap is insurmountable child is a person vtlo can't carry a load hread honk' intact but can balance a triple dip ice cream cone tide riding a bike A cwnpassionate retiree is one who waits after daybreak to mow the lawn It doesn t take nmch more than an hour in a kkaiting room tu turn an outpatient into an 1! t tsV't k tr1 impatient t a Boeing 747 could be slipped aboard a jetliner that these truck-sizdetectors of somewhat marginal effectiveness cost $750000 per copy it is not surprising that outfits like the Air Transport Association aren't exactly wild about the FAA's idea that the airlines pay the cost "We cannot support the widespread Considering deployment tolA-tose- t k of this equipment in the near term because its capability has not yet been demonstrated" is how ATA's Stephen D Hayes puts it This brings up a second doubt about the FAA decision It would require the airlines to pay an estimated $896 mi1 lion over the next 10 years to install the detection devices More realistically the order would require the traveling public to pay nearly a billion dollars because the airlines would certainly pass the cost along to their customers This is a particularly contemptible prospect considering that users of the national air transport system have already paid for such an installation As of March of this year nearly $119 billion was sitting idle in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund drawing interest This fund growing at the rate of nearly $600 million every three months was created by Americans who ostensibly support improvements in the safety and efficiency of the nation's air transport system by paying taxes on airline tickets air freight waybills and aviation fuel But the federal executive and legislative branches combining to play fiscal sleight of hand in order to create a false budget picture have continually refused to appropriate or spend these monies With that sort of funding readily available it is unacceptable that the FAA its parent the US Department of Transportation together with Congress would entertain for even the briefest moment any thought of charging the flying public another cent to install those 400 or so explosive detection devices it thinks are necessary This when coupled with the fact as described by ATA's Mr Hayes that the TNA detector's -- capability has not yet been demonstrated- - makes the FAA's plan for deploying these devices most definitely an idea whose time has not yet arrived at the loading gate let alone cleared for takeoff t st e TNA PABalwookbew 04A tiAA11qWAAq4-at4!ftvW41- At 1 I A 7:0' 4' i :4111:'? lk Cos : 3 - As 417 kra tiCL1 : Pr'le$P i' '1414 ' ''' 1 - ' ‘ :C a :iY 1 I 0 t 0 tI( ar tbhe' 1 :: dt 7 ::1 ! 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Make no mistake while Poland and Hungary share some common history and experience their current situations are not entirely parallel Hungary's economy is clearly more advanced but Hungary has no political equivalent of Solidarity Hungarians therefore lack the political cohesiveness that has enabled Poland to rally around a single articulate and dynamic leader and a common ideal While Polish union leaders are on the cutting edge of reform the few independent unions in Hungary look for guidance on such elementary issues as the actual formation of a labor movement and what issues they should seek to negotiate It's a long way from Budapest to Gdansk I met with the head of the largest independent trade union which now counts 10000 scientific workers as members Almost all of these members hold two jobs because the average pay — 90 cents per hour — is not enough to survive even by Eastern bloc standards Because there are no union dues and therefore no union payroll they must recruit organize and negotiate during the eight hours each day when they are not at work They face a formidable task They invited the minister of labor from Austria to come and speak to their group He did but found that they lacked the funds to even buy his lunch Were it not for the help of s Lane Kirkland and the Free Trade Union Institute they might perish altogether Similarly the political leaders of those nascent political parties — only just now being legalized — want to know simply how to organize and how to create an effective political East-Wes- AFL-CIO'- structure I visited with one of the articulate young leaders of the fledgling Free Democrats As A we talked about how to build his new party from scratch I had memories of my Tennessee district in the 1950s when we too were trying to build a new party We could have held our meetings in a phone booth and kept our volunteer files in a shoe box But then we didn't have foreign tank battalions stationed outside Chattanooga nor were there secret police and political commissars in every platoon of our National Guard There are these things in Hungary yet efforts continue unabated Hungary at the moment remains open to our suggestions and appears willing to try almost anything the West proposes This imposes a special burden on us but Hungarians have no choice Marxism has failed them miserably In the post-wa- r period Eastern bloc countries have seen countless nations pass them by on the road to personal freedom and economic progress Brock ben ed as US trade representa 1981-198and as secretary of la bor from 1985 to 1987 8111 live from 5 Hungary's economy is far better than Poland's but that is tantamount to comparing the relative time lapse of two sinking ships In the shiny steel of the global competitive market Hungary's economy is a rust bucket Yet bow does a country recover from decades of incompetent state control? How does it restore personal freedoms when political commissars roam the factory floor and control every squad in the army? In short how do the political process you without causing heartburn — or worse — in Moscow? Through all the discourse it is clear that there is some concern that events may now be unfolding almost too rapidly in Hungary Underlying many comments was an implicit sense of hesitancy about Hungarians' ability to do something they have not been allowed to do for 40 years — run a local government a competitive business a responsible political party an effective trade union Bureaucratic state enterprises will have to be drastically curtailed or closed This will have at least a short-ternegative impact on even with Western investment employment in new plants and equipment Markets will have to be found and developed Workers and managers will have to be trained These things take time Unfortunately there is no evidence that the general public is willing to give the current government either the time or the support to undertake necessary structural changes Even if these leaders knew what to do and had the political will to do it popular resentment of past repression and economic failures is too great Thus they are actively seeking to pull the political opposition into a coalition to share the political burdea The opposition is reluctant to carry that load The call for free elections is a crucial step forward Yet even this choice carries certain hazards for truly free elections would raise expectations dramatically expectations that would be hard to meet quickly The ruling communists — or socialists as they apparently prefer to be called — have only the support of less than 40 percent of the populace If we win they now wonder and it takes too long to remove these enormous inefficiencies will the people turn their backs on democracy itself? Lurking over everyone's shoulder is the haunting fact that there is a line beyond which no Soviet leader will permit the satellite states to cross Like waiting for a rubber band to break at its limit we've all wondered whether Poland would hit this point No one in Hungary knows the point either It is the common belief that not even Mikhail Gorbachev himself knows But that such a line exists no one doubts The US role is crucial During my travels no one asked for the infusion of billions of US donrs The common fear is that large international loans would only be used to sustain inefficient and noncompetitive enterprises perpetuating the problem rather than solving it When President Bush pledged $25 million — all to support private enterprise — he was right on the mark Hungarian progress is in large degree dependent on a restoration of a market-drivesystem The president's trip was as fine a beginning as any of us could possibly hope for Congress should follow his example Impatience which results in frustration — as is the case with protectionism for example — can trigger eco- noinic consequences v ith global political fallout At the same time overt interference in could be equally internal decision-makincounterproductive What a difference it wouldalso make if our two great political parties would find a way to help ormative political opposition groups in Hungary Through the' National Endowment for Democracy of which I am chairman Democrats have begun to do so No doubt the Republicans Vill not be far behind There Is no partisanship in this cause And a bit of wholesome humility is absolutely necessary We cannot walk away nor can we promise more than we can deliver The United States and Western business firms can invest not only in plants and equipment but also in human skill development Programs such as those of the NED can help in rebuilding pluralistic institutions essential to any free society Limited loans clearly tied to fundamental and achievable reform will make a difference Ultimately it may mean that the little things we do can mean more than any grand gesture state-owne- d n g Decade of Population Declines Birds Cannot Fly Away From Our Problems By John Young Cox News Service WACO Texas — For a moment many years ago I was at eye level with a hawk It was at a church camp in the Rockies We were in an open-ai- r sanctuary that inclined at a hilltop As the minister intoned below us my attention was captured by a hawk gliding above the pines The sight nearly carried me off my seat the sight of a creature so aloof from the world It can know trees from the boughs or the skies It can skip along the ground or hang out in the wind What a life — to be above it all But the fact is that birds are not above it -- 011) The Washington Post reports that popula tions of migratory songbirds common in the Washington DC area have declined rapidly in the last decade In Alaska the US Fish and Wildlife Service says that the Exxon Valdez oil spill has caused eagle reproduction to skid to a halt on five islands in Prince William Sound On all five islands considered prime nesting areas not a single bald eagle chick has been born this year While songbirds on the Atlantic side and eagles on the Pacific side face hardships the struggle of a hardy band of travelers continues in the heartland of the continent The whooping crane isn't alone against the elements but darned near Its survivors total only slightly more than 150 The largest flock of whoopers about 132 spends summers in the marshy areas of Canada's Northwest Territories and migrates south to the Gulf Coast of Texas wintering near Port Aransas Having most of the worlds tiny whooler 4) )ipl Is FoS:Itia aiRt)s! ii 1 e -- -- f 't e f'' ------ '' Fls oaalli P TtAls 0!411 -- - A Ife I 1 A i 0 Ir: -- it 414 i I' 4 : ) '11 ::' 1'f' -- tl 0: I 1 al ' ' population confined to a single flock poses a threat to the bird's survival A hurricane wiped out an entire wbooper flock in Louisiana in the 1940s John Young Is editorial page editor Waco Tribune-licral- of the d But acts of nature are not the prime concern Fish and Wildlife officials particularly are concerned about the shipment of petroleum products and chemicals on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway A spill could be devas- tating to whoopers and pollutants regularly dumped in the gulf could poison them In 1975 Fish and Wildlife tried an experiment to give the species a hedge against ecoIt offered whooping logical catastrophe crane eggs for adoption to a flock of sandhill cranes that spent summers in Idaho and wintered in New Mexico away from hurricanes and oil tankers It became a cause of celebration a decade ago when the white beads of a few gangly whooping cranes began to pop up out of the field of sandhills They'd been adopted However now in its 15th year the expert meat is not panning out as hoped Though the whoopers seemed to prosper among the sand hills they would not mate The Idaho-NeMexico whooper flock peaked at 34 in 1984 Now it is down to 13 Fish and IN'ildlife bah decided to conserve 'e precious whimper toggs and discontinue the'Oot experiment It may try to establish a flock 1011(111 Until more than onto floek oil hoiopers can $ flourish the threat of extinction persists A 4 creature sturdy towing') tt) trrerse a coati nent remains in a fragile state of flux The problem as wesve found with eagles and cranes is that a v inged creature cannot stay above man s habitat forever At some point it must land 11 11''l '' I1 1 -- foster-parentin- i 3:4§ im44 &1 r7r'x7 to to i I 44' Common Carrier I r3 : ''c Not Cleared for Takeoff A few Letters I --1 7111:11111" tax-c- H11011 s Should Receive Tax Relief Some et 4'"-- i IR gerter's -- 0 1 4110JIIMOVI)A4 V000441!011011N!9M1100PM111!WOMIlev 0 |
