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Show Purchasing Power En Individual Utah Incomes Show Decline During 10 Years The actual purchasing power of individual income payments in Utah has been declining since 1943, it was disclosed this week by Utah Foundation, the private, pri-vate, non-profit tax research organization. or-ganization. According to the report, disposable dis-posable income payments in Utah (expressed in terms of 1935-39 purchasing power) increased in-creased by 60 between 1939 and 1952. However, all of this increase took place during the pre-war defense effort and during dur-ing the nearly years of World War II. Between 1943 and 1949, the per capita purchasing power of Utahns decreased by 14, the report states. Since the Korean War, there has been a slight increase in the real income of Utahns (expressed in terms of 1935-39 purchasing power), but it has never reached the level achieved in 1943. Higher taxes and the increased cost of living are attributed as the two most important reasons for the decline de-cline between 1943 and 1949. Utah's economy is more susceptible sus-ceptible to changes in the defense de-fense effort than that of most of the other states, according to Utah Foundation analysts. This is true because so large a segment seg-ment of Utah's labor force is employed by government defense de-fense establishments, and because be-cause Utah's industrial and mining min-ing activities are closely keyed to military requirements. Much of Utah's present economic prosperity pros-perity is therefore dependent upon the nation's defense efforts. ef-forts. Coincidental with the changes in personal income payments that have occurred in Utah since 1939, there has been a tremendous increase in the nation's na-tion's public debt. The report reveals that the national debt is now equal to $1,725 per capita, cap-ita, an increase of $1,450 for every man, woman, and child in the nation compared with 1939. The increased number oi working women, and the pronounced pro-nounced rural-to-urban movement move-ment of population are other factors accounting for some of the chang-es in the per capita income payments in Utah. Although segments of the population pop-ulation have benefited individually individ-ually by the economic 'changes that have taken place in Utah, other groups with relatively fixed incomes have been adversely ad-versely affected by these changes. chang-es. In particular, the report states, holders of life insurance policies, annuities, savings and loan shares, U. S. Savings Bonds and bank deposits, as well as present and prospective beneficiaries of private, governmental, gov-ernmental, and Social Security retirement pensions have had a substantial decline in the purchasing pur-chasing power (and real value) of their savings and benefits. |