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Show ; Debate airs initiatives merits9 faults x yMABC HADDOCK s Utah's three tax limitation lni- tjves on this November's ballot -either about money or power, ! Lding on which side of the Jjeyouareon. At least that was the opinion of 1 i. two men who debated the ini-Les ini-Les this past week at the Utah v te Training School Auditorium, "larry Peterson, Utah Teacher of Year, spoke against the tax-siting tax-siting measures, telling a sparse rfence, "The initiatives are ioutmoney.-and arguing that the utswill go too far and eliminate important services, especially in Utah schools. Mills Crenshaw, a talk show host on a Salt Lake radio station and proponent of the tax initiatives countered with: "The problem has nothing to do with money. The issue is-sue is not money, it's power." Crenshaw claimed that the government gov-ernment in Utah is controlled by special interest groups, and that high taxes are strangling Utah's economy. "What we need to solve the problems prob-lems with Utah's prosperity is more tax cuts," Crenshaw said. - X S. y V V ' .' v. : ( A, f z :- i A - A. - -1 fa J I ; T , lit -if V t The debate was sponsored by the American Fork Rotary Club, and drew an audience that was typified by Peterson's opening remarks. "I think no issue in the past few years has divided the people of Utah like the tax initiatives," the Ogden math teacher said. Peterson told the audience that Utah's taxing woes were compounded com-pounded by a slow period in the state's economy and the tremendous tremen-dous growth rate in local school enrollment. "We put students in the school system at a fantastic rate," Peterson Peter-son said. "But that means we have more kids who use the services and fewer of those who pay for them. That's how we got here." Peterson said the tax cuts are unfair because they won't hit all counties or all groups equally, and explained that there is not a single state budget from which taxes will be cut. "Each taxing entity must take care of the tax cuts individually, and there are 500 taxing entities in the state," Peterson said. "The intent in-tent was to equalize taxes and the initiatives don't do that." But Crenshaw said that the taxes will simply cut a little less than 6 percent from the state's tax income a far cry from the amount of taxes cut by California's Proposition Proposi-tion 13 and that was using the state's estimated figure of $326 million. Crenshaw used the number, but claimed it was much higher than estimates by other groups. While he admitted that some groups would be hit harder than others by the initiatives, Crenshaw said none of the cuts would be as drastic as is being portrayed by opponents to the initiatives. If no cuts were made, he said, there would be no changes in Utah's spending policies. "At the most we need 24 school districts in Utah," Crenshaw said. "We don't need the State Office of Education. We.need local control of local schools. But they won't take any of these bold steps unless we pass the initiatives." And if the initiatives fail, "This wound will become a bleeding artery. ar-tery. When things get tough for you, you have to budget your money. But when things got tough for the state, what did they do? They asked you for more money." The initiatives are a way to make sure that doesn't happen again. "Things aren't as good as everyone every-one says they are," Peterson said, "nor are they as bad. We have 25,000 more students in our schools than in 1986, and they want to roll back property taxes to the 1979 levels. Ifyou want to maintain the services, how doyou finance the growth?" he asked. Peterson added that the initiatives initia-tives bypass the representative form of government in setting policy. pol-icy. "We support the candidates we believe in," and then permit them to make the decisions of govern- Larry Peterson, Utah Teacher of the Year, makes a point in question and answer portion of debate. "'It ! it M : ment. Peterson praised Utah's lawmakers as conscientious and not interested in personal gain. But Crenshaw said representative representa-tive government in the state has been non-existent for the past two years. "The Utah Public Employees Association and the Utah Education Educa-tion Association are the only two major groups represented in the state of Utah," he said. "For two decades the people of this state have become sheep. These people are our servants, not our masters. "Government is a dragon," Crenshaw said. "You cannot slay a dragon because every time you stab it, it bleeds and each drop of blood becomes another bureaucrat who turns around and hires 1,000 people to work for him. "But you can muzzle the dragon, and you can control him." Crenshaw Cren-shaw said the tax initiatives, if approved, would do that. Peterson closed with a plea to trust in the political process. "We support the people we believe be-lieve in," he said. My plea to you is to believe in yourselves and to believe be-lieve that Utah is worth investing in." K Mills Crenshaw, radio talk show host, listens to point made ly opponent at debate |