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Show ' -THE ZEPH YR/ AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2003 is, if you look at the numbers, less today than it was 10 years ago. When corrected for inflation, today's recreation budget is down by approximately 35% compared to what it had been when Fee-Demo was introduced in 1996. Fee-Demo, like all the new fees springing up, is shifting the source of funding of public services from income/corporate taxes directly to users. Fee-Demo is NOT providing genuinely increased /supplemental funding. KRISTINE MERRELL ROGERS AVLOUR € hat Law Fee- Demo is simply making up for a small portion of the shortfalls that have resulted from budget reductions. Fee-Demo, like all such fees, is a mechanism for funding tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy while shifting the burden of funding government DIVORCE CUSTODY ADOPTION CRIMINAL DEFENSE (Adult 6 Juvenile) MEDIATION PERSONAL INJURY FEE DEMO IS A MECHANISM FOR FUNDING TAX CUTS TO CORPORATIONS & THE WEALTHY, WHILE SHIFTING THE BURDEN OF FUNDING GOVERNMENT FROM THE RICH TO THE WORKING CLASS AND POOR. 712 Judge Building 8 East Broadway Salt Lake City, UT 84111 801.994.6000 FAX: 801.994.6094 MOAB OFFICE: 94 East Grand Avenue Moab, UT 84532 435.259.2547 from the rich to the working class and the poor. And as Fee-Demo activists have said since the beginning, another purpose of these budget reductions is to bring about privatization. I expect that many of the public employees who are about to be replaced with contract-labor have figured this out. I only hope they'll now become active opponents of Fee-Demo and similar privatization schemes. Perhaps by working together with fee opponents it will still be possible to save not only these people's jobs but to preserve their specialized skills. 7” ‘ ’ TEX 5 RIVERWAYS PO Box 67 Moab, UT 84532 435.259.5101 691 W. 500 West. 3D RIVER VISIONS, INC. __ | info@texsriverways.com www.texsriverways.com Those specialized skills, it turns out, are important to Wilderness management. If we lose them, we may soon find chainsaw-wielding, private trail-crews operating in Wilderness. The justification for this clearly illegal intrusion upon Wilderness will likely go like this: "We have no options - we do not have sufficient money with which to manage Wilderness ANNUAL BURN-OUT AD using Forest Service employees and non-mechanized means." What no one will say is: "We gave away the money we did have as tax cuts tothe rich." USFS & DOUBLE TAXATION "We are continually hearing people say they want an interagency pass," the USFS’s Thorpe said. "We are a step closer, and it is possible that we'll have that Northwest interagency pass available by next year." What Thorpe of the USFS forgets, is that we once had an "interagency pass". It was known as a citizen's right to access his or her public land and we paid for it with our taxes. What Thorpe forgets is that fee-demo was first sold to the American Public as being a way to pay for the specific services we use. But unless you happen to be amongst the filthy rich, chances QUOTE are tired and annoyed and hot. but will continue to serve our customers with as much cheer and good will as we can muster. Thank you...Rrrrrf. are you're still paying nearly as much in taxes as you were before fee-demo was introduced. What's changed is that today you are no longer able to enjoy the benefits that previously came with paying your taxes. Today you must pay TWICE ... once on April 15th and once at the turnstile. As for the quote by Oregon State Parks’ Tom Towslee who says: "If you want the whole nine yards, then pay the freight and eat it all." Towslee has encapsulated the concept of privatization perfectly. And, you'll notice that Towslee and Thorpe are speaking at crossed purposes. One gov't official is promoting the idea of an all-inclusive interagency pass -- a pass that is paid for like any other tax but which costs the average working person hundreds of times as much as he had previously paid for those same services through his taxes --- the other gov't official is promoting the commodification of every little human experience and then selling those experiences as products to those customers who can afford the price. What is it with these people? Are they idiots or are they monsters? You decide ... then decide what you're going to do to stop this madness. ANOTHER On behalf of my brothers, I'd like to announce that we TO REMEMBER” CANOE OUTFITTING 6 RENTALS SHUTTLE SERVICE JETBOAT TOURS SHOW A LITTLE BACKBONE For $99.99/year, you can put your face on this page. Send a photo & the Big Bucks to The Zephyr &join the Crowd A quote from one of the spiritual fathers of fee-demo, free-marketeer Randal O'Toole Question: Wouldn't recreation fees encourage the "Disneyfication" of national forests? O'toole replies: I hope so.... CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF COMMUNITY RADIO Visionaries have been making the comparison between Wilderness, National Parks and Disneyland for a great many years. Today we're just about there. Sadly this is a future that could have been avoided. 89.7 & 106.1 For more AND LISTEN ON-LINE WORLDWIDE: WWW.KZMU.ORG Silver Bullets, go to the web site: www.wildwilderness.org REQUEST E PAGE23 | LINE: 259.4897 |
