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Show SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH President, Governor Telephone To Observe Phone Anniversary FRIDAY, MAY 19, 1967 Governor Offers To Mediate CAP Disagreement An offer to mediate differences in an attempt to assure the Salt Lake County Commu- Citizens Board Sets Minimum Of Needed New S.L. Revenue In order to maintain current levels of service during fiscal Salt Lake City will need nity Action Program a two mil-- 1 1967-6lion dollar comprehensive medical-- a minimum of $1,600,000 in new dental grant was made this revenue. week by Gov. Calvin L. RampThats the word of the Citizen ton. Review Board on Wages and But the governor said he re- Revenue which reported to the gards cooperation in the project city commission this week. The board, headed by I. J. by local doctors and dentists as essential. Wagner, outlined where the The Salt Lake CAP organiza- money will be needed and sugtion has applied for funds from gested legislative relief in the the federal government to estab- fofm of an increased local sales lish a clinic-typ- e service for in- tax as the only equitable way digent people next fiscal year to raise the money. said The committee the at the Salt Lake County com1. For money will be needed plex. in raises salaries in accordance The plan has been opposed by the salary study, $350,000. local dentists who would prefer with 2. meet requirements based To a procedure which directs paon the current level of operatients to private offices. tion and for group insurance The' dental group met once interest on tax notes, with Gov. Rampton, proposing a premiums, 3. To replace obetc., $839,000. it referral organization solete and depreciated equipof their own and at that time ment, $300,000. 4. To add 45 the governor said he would dis- new 15 fireofficers and police cuss it with Office of Economic men, $324,000. Opportunity Director Sargent The figures total $1,813,000 Before the governor could ac- the report explained, but it was complish this, a spokesman for noted this had been arbitrarily the dental group, Dr. Charles E. reduced to $1,600,000, because Parkin, in a Salt Lake City talk, the committee feels in the pubpublicly branded the CAP plan lic interest the city administraas a political boondoggle de- tion should function under a signed to build monuments to tight budget. federal bureaucracy. The committees approach, Gov. Rampton Wednesday said the report told commissioners, 8 non-prof- Governor Calvin L. Hampton and MST Assistant Vice President Franklin D. Sawyer enjoy a good lau&h during a nationwide call with President Johnson and other governors. The conference call was part of ceremonies commemorating installation of the nation's 100 millionth telephone. Governor Calvin L. Hampton joined with President Johnson and other governors throughout the nation Thursday, May 11, in commemorating the installation of the 100 millionth telephone in the United States. The President talked simultaneously to all the governors over a special telephone network. President Johnson and each of the governors used gold telephone for the event. Governor Rampton was one of ten governors called on by the President for comments. He noted that Utah had played a vital role in communications of all types. The joining of the telegraph system of .the west and east was made in Utah. Ninety eight years ago the golden spike was driven joining the railroads of the east with those of the west, and at Wendover, Utah, the final splice was made on the first transcontinental telephone line. He noted that Utah from the beginning has been a center for communications and transportation. In the local ceremony preceding the Presidents call, Frank D. Sawyer, assistant vice president of Mountain States Telephone, presented a gold telephone to Governor Rampton. A plaque was given to the Governor by Grant Callister, president of Bear River Telephone Co. and vice president of Rocky Mountain Telephone Assn. It was pointed out during the ceremony that 2300 independent telephone companies in the nation serve 16,400,000 telephones and the Bell System the remaining 83,600,000. It required 77 years for the industry to install the 50 millionth telephone and only 14 years to reach the 100 millionth. With only six percent of the worlds population, the United States has half the world telephones. In Utah there are 17 independent telephone companies serving 18,500 telephones and nearly half the geographical area. Mr. Sawyer said the working together of large and small companies is a graphic example of the free enterprise system in action for the benefit of the general public. In Utah, a higher percentage of homes have telephones than any other state in the Rocky Mountain area. The talking rate per capita is equal to 965 conversations per person last year. This is 60 per cent higher than the national average and is a record of any area of this size and population. As of December 31, 1966, the telephone industry had $204 million invested in Utah. Expenditures for new facilities last year were over $19 million. Taxes of various kinds collected and paid were nearly $18 million. The industry employed 3,850 men and women with a payroll of more than $24 million. Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap vigors of the mind. he regretted Dr. Parkinss statement because it could imperil CAPS chances of receiving the grant. It should be emphasized, the governor said, that this is not a program being imposed on us by the Johnson Administration or any federal agency. This is (Continued on page 8) was to recommend raising the additional needed funds by the increasing of the citys share of the local option sales tax from one-hal- f per cent to one per cent. This was denied us by the 1967 Legislature, although the proposal had the support of various municipal and commun- ity agencies. Hence, as a temporary expedient only, the report emphasized, we recommend (1) imposition of a sewer charge of $2 per connection with a 15 per cent increment for large users (to raise $1,311,000), (2) revision of the present business license tax to augment the (norof mal) tax by cent on all gross receipts one per over $10,000 annually (to raise from $200,000 to $300,000) and (3) double the fine for auto parking violations from $1 to $2 (the amount of resulting additional revenues to be 'problemone-twentie- th atical). The City Commission took no action Tuesday on the committees report. We The report explained: cannot emphasize too strongly that the recommended revenue measurers are intended as temporary to meet an emergency until an increase in sales tax is authorized. TODAYS EDITORIAL . Democratic Women To Install Officers Low Income Groups Benefit from Tax Spending Policies Members of the oldest political Club in the. State of Utah, the Salt Lake Womens Democratic Club, will install their newly elected officers at a special installation luncheon, which will be held at 12:30 P.M. in the Newhouse The overall effect of government taxing and spend- ing policies is a substantial redistribution of income in favor of low income groups. This was the principal conclusion contained in a Utah Foundation analysis of a study recently completed by Tax Foundation, a national governmental research Hotel, Wednesday, May 24th. Installation ceremonies will be conducted by Mrs. Calvin L. Rampton. Officers to be installed Ann P. are: President: Vice President: 1st Brown; Jean Westwood; 2nd Vice President: Ivy Mitchell; Recording Secretary: Betty Johnson; Corresponding Secretary: Hannah Crookston; Auditor: Grace Coscoe; and Historian: Nellie Jack. All Democratic Women are urged to be present. organization. According to the report, benefits from government spending exceeded the tax burden by a ratio of more than four to one for families in the under $2,000 income class. The redistribution of income was greatest at the federal level where benefits exceeded taxes by a ratio of six to one for low income families. At the state and local level, government benefits amounted to 2.4 times the state and local tax burden for such families. Government benefits continue toexceed 'tax burden for most families up to an income level of about $6,000. The report points out that above the $6,000 level the (Continued on Page Four) |