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Show Page Two THE SALT LAKE TIMES FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1976 Corrections Program Costs Riding, In Prison and Outside Utah is losing close to $2 million a yer in potential sales and excise taxes on retail sales on military posts which are exempt from state and local taxes, according to Utah it Foundation, the private, public service agency. Total tax loss to all state and local governments across the nation is estimated at $300 million a year in sales and excise taxes, and another $94 non-prof- 10 million in income tax. The special tax-exem- status of pt Sunspots And CB Radios retail outlets on military posts and (continued from page 1) nothing very memorable about the last one, in 1969 (when there was a big solar maximum). An electrician remembered a little static on the radio in 1969 and a telephone not functioning for an hour or two. Edward Wolowiec, Assistant to the Chairman of the Universitys Department of Physics, a long-tim- e CB-erecalls he once heard Philadelphia police calls in Chicago on his radio receiver. But this disruption might even be less than in 1969, Parker says. The CB is around or 30 megacycles, but it relies a lot on direct line of sight communications, he says. There could be a bad day occasionally for CBs or police radios. But police radios wont be affected any more than they were in 1969. No one can predict how weak or strong the next solar maxima will be. Some people are predicting a weak one, some people are predicting a strong one. Half of them are going to be right, half of them are going to be wrong. Theres no way of knowing. Some of the solar maxima which occur approxihave lots more or less mately every eleven years and lots of sunspots, and other just have lots of sunspots. in the sunspot cycle We are anticipating a build-u- p in the next couple of years. When the maximum will fall, no one knows exactly. Originally it was projected for 1978, but I think 1979 or 1980 is a good guess. Its a bit later than some had expected, but sunspots never are regular. Sometimes it drags out for 15 years between maxima instead of 10 yers. Eleven is the a research brief released this week. Exemptions from state and local sales and excise taxes on sales made through military commissaries and post exchanges originally were instituted to partially compensate military personnel for lower pay scales than their counterparts in civilian life and for the incon-vienc- e of living on military posts, removed from the normal channels r, 15-2- 0 average. Its been pointed out that during the seventeenth century the sun had essentially no sunspots for 70 years. There were hardly any auroreal displays or other signs of solar activity. The telescope was invented in 1610, and sunspots were observed in 1610 and 1635. It went through two maxima up and down, up and down .then it just slid slowly down to a minimum and reached rock bottom about 1645. Then all of a sudden in 1715 sunspots picked up just as though nothing had happened. And the present cycle has been going on ever since. The sun often doesnt keep going that long with its activity. Any decade now the sun could decide to quit the whole business and relax for a century. the broad shallow depressions whose Sunspots surface lies a few hundred kilometers below the visible are unpredictable. We simply surface of the sun dont understand how they work or why they are formed. And one feels a bit annoyed that heres a magnetic which is what makes a sunspot field and you think you're familiar with magnetic fields and yet that magnetic field of the sun is behaving in a way you cant account for. So you feel challenged to figure it out. I think the sunspot is only the symptom of the activity. A member of The University of Chicago faculty since 1955, Parker is the originator of the concept of the solar wind the stream of charged particles pouring out of the sun. of military personnel is being restudied in the light of changing conditions, the Foundation notes in of trade. year ended June 30, 198, was more than $1 million. Loss of excise tax revenue from cigarette and liquor sales would be in addition to this figure. Some of the principal arguments brought against the military exemption from local sales and excise taxes are: Evidence of illegal abuse of the exemption. Retired as well as active military personnel have shopping privileges, and there is evidence that many purchases are made for friends, relatives, and other ineligible people. In addition. The Advisory Commission for Intergovernmental Relations found evidence of substantial bootlegging" of cigarettes and tobacco: military Purchasing at in the compices and munity. The negative impact on retail merchants in communities where military personnel live. Ordinary merchants cannot compete with prices based on government masspurchasing techniques and exemption from state and local taxes. Commissary and PX sales are definitely big business. On the basis of dollar volume, commissaries would rank ninth among U.S. food store chains (Safeway is No. 1), and PXs would rank seventh among department variety store chains (Sears Roebuck No. 1). Total sales volume through these military outlets is estimated at nearly $5 billion a year. State income tax losses are due to provisions in Federal law that exempt military personnel from paying state income tax in any but the domicile (legal residence) state. States have very little information on their legal residents who are stationed on military posts outside their borders. The danger of double taxation could be avoided through provisions for credits against tax obligations in one state for taxes paid on the same income in another state," the Foundation points out. This system is successfully operating in cases of civilians who are moved from state to state by their employ- off-bas- e, LEASED GRAPEVINE on-po- st tax-exem- pt re-selli- Growing sentiment for ending, or at least modifying, special tax privileges of the military is based primarily on evidence that compensation and lifestyle of military personnel has changed substantially since the privileges were granted, the Foundation reports. At s of the present time, married military personnel live in the community with their families. Pay and allowances for mosi military officers is higher than that of civilians performing comparable work. While the comparison of military and civilian pay scales for enlisted personnel is less favorable to the military, when total military pay (including food and quarters allowances) is used for comparison, military compensation may exceed civilian." A study recently completed by the Advisory Commission for Intergovernmental Relations indicates that in fiscal year 1973, sales tax loss on military post transactions in Utah was $695,000 and that the state lost an additional $390,000 in cigarette tax. There was a further ers. loss of potential revenue in liquor excise taxes. There was $2.2 million in total liquor sales on military posts, but no tax estimate was made, due to lack of information concerning what types of alcoholic beverages were sold and what part of total sales was in bulk (bottles) and what part in sales in clubs. Adjusting the sales tax figure for the cost of living increase and for increases in local sales tax rates since 1973, it appears that the loss of potential sales tax to Utah and its political subdivisions in the two-third- the He is also known for his general dynamo equation concerning the effect of the motions of fluids and gases on the general magnetic field of earth, the sun, and of the galaxy or Milky Way. He predicts we will pull through the next splurge of sunspot activity with no trouble at all and CB-er- s will be putting the good numbers on their buddies for some time to come. dial Pete Kutulas, Salt Lake County Commissioner, named Duaine Rasmussen as his administrative aid this week. Rasmussen, 28, replaces Jim Snow who left the post to become county auditor, replacing' Gerald R. Hansen who resigned under pressure three weeks ago. Rasmussen will be paid $17,000 in his new post. . Political appointees in Salt Lake County will probably have to wait until next year to learn if they will be protected from firing under county merit rules when their bosses leave office. County commissioners and the County Merit Council met this week and decided to defer official action until countil member Dan Berman can be consulted. The other two council members, however indicated they want to wait until after the Nov. 2 election because many of the jobs held by political appointees will be rearranged after Jan. 1. A battle is brewing over short notice given on upcoming Federal Court cases between the U.S. Attorneys Office and U.S. District Court Chief Judge Willis Ritter. Ritter issued a court calendar this week containing 50 cases The calendar is to begin only four working days after it was issued. The U.S. Attorneys Office has appealed to Ritter, asking him to delay the cases. The United Way of the Great Salt Lake Area has received pledges or cash totalling $284,786, since its campaign kickoff luncheon two weeks ago. Along with $87,000 raised by Pacesetter" firms brings the total to $371,786 toward a goal of $2,450,000. The Payments in Lieu of Taxes approved by President Ford, according to a source close to the White House. The bill will add about $7.3 million to federal revenue to county and local government in Utah. It will apply as well to all localities in the U.S. which contain substantial federal property not now on the tax rolls. bill will be A petition by the Utah Liquor Control Commission was denied this week by the Utah Supreme Court. The ruling, in effect, allows the Utah news media to continue accepting liquor advertisements. The liquor commission's petition attempted to overturn a preliminary injunction signed by Third District Judge James S. Sawaya prohibiting the commision from enforcing its suspension of liquor ads in the news media. This week's action is only one phase in a continuing legal battle between the commission the the Utah Press Association over liquor advertising. Keep your dictionaries handy the Commission on State Forms and Paperwork got caught in its own trap when it issued a report last week making suggestions on how to make forms easier to read. The report was filled with such words as caveat, concommit-anlly- , exacerbation, explication, amelioration, enigma, probative, onerously, familial, inhere, homogeneity and exculpatory. (Exculpatory?) It also referred to the "antiseptic legal formalism" of a form used by the Department of Social Services. folks, Where thousands of listeners enjoy concert music and news every day! |