Show A SHOT OR A KICK the house of representatives calendar at the beginning of this week was loaded with recovery mea measures much needed irrigation and water law protective measures u r e s for cities and towns and rn many a n y other bills of general apu catlon aatlo n despite the fact the house sitting sifting committees calendar for the first days consideration was packed with five measures each or ol which was calculated to give a shot in the arm to one class of citizens and a kick in the pants to another first for consideration was S B no 88 to increase individual 1 income tax rates designed to transfer taxes from the land owner to the forgotten man the small business man and the school teach er who remain forgotten forgot tei second came S B no 1 the corporation po ration franchise tax in which the house committee had recommended elimination of property tax offsets which would tend tenc to shift the burden from the man who pays only property taxes to the corporation which pays both property and franchise taxes third was H B no 62 increase the premium tax paid by insurance companies and thus shift some of the burden from the farmer and property owner to the should shoulders erz of the same farmer and the same property owner who hold small insurance policies on their lives either by increasing their premium or by decreasing their policy dividend devious but further came H B no 16 to levy a tax of four cents per 1000 cubic beeton natural gas the proceeds to go to the state general fund and thus relieve general property taxes the purpose of this bill would be to put a tariff of 1 I 1 14 a ton on coal the result would be to increase the price of coal by at least 1 per ton to the farmer and the laborer and the school teacher last on the calendar was 13 I 1 B no 4 relating to work mens compensation pensa tion this bill would give the state insurance fund a monopoly on all such insurance except where large corporations are self ansur ers it would at least double the cost of this type of insurance to all employers the state insurance fund by the way pays no taxes to the state the vice ot of the first days program in the house is all this legislation merely tended to substitute one taxpayer tax payer for another with the purpose of advancing the interests of one group to the detriment of another surely the ithe house sifting committee must have sat up Z au night to select the five measures which would be most effective in retarding the recovery of the state of utah |