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Show IFRYAN'S people An interesting look at people in Davis County Taxes: Jack's mission QTV ' wasted on non-essential workers ("Only 57 percent of the people employed by our 40 school districts are classroom teachers.") and that reaching a national average in per pupil expenditures is totally unrealistic un-realistic ("To raise this amount, we would have to double the amount all of us pay for state income taxes or increase the sales tax rate to nearly 7!2percent."). Jack is especially incensed over , the "wastefulness" of educational career ladder monies, funds that are "being spread around to everyone every-one instead of being channeled to the excellent teachers." And one method of stopping such "foolishness" "foolish-ness" is the UTA's attempt at the "This I's for U" tax limitation petition peti-tion which would reduce propert taxes as much as 25 percent across the state. "It's simple," he says. "If they didn't have the money, then they couldn't spend it!" Such simple statements also re-- re-- fleet the simplicity of his life. The father of two daughters, Jack lives in a modest five-room home, enjoys en-joys "fooling around" on his home organ, dabbles at wood-working and putters around his small garden. gar-den. He enjoys the Utah he first visited in 1951 after marrying "a Mormon girl" and moving from Southern California. He landed in Utah with a degree in corporate finance from the University Uni-versity of Southern California and no job.. So he walked down Salt Lake's Main Street until he was hired at Utah Power and Light as a clerk in the budget department. He would soon leave to manage the then-propserous University Club (a position he left after friction developed de-veloped between he and one of its members, the late Judge Willis Rit-ter, Rit-ter, a controversial figure described de-scribed by Jack as "one of the most obnoxious men I've ever met") and would later accept a job in advertising and public relations for Prudential Federal Savings. In 1964 he joined the staff of the Utah Taxpayers Association-and within with-in several months he was named its executive director. It's a job he doesn't intend to quit. "I don't make huge money and I have a rather skimpy retirement program, but it's a job I really love. I can do some good here.. .Despite our small staff and budget, we we ? recently recognized as being the third most effective lobby among the state's legislators. That's effi-ciency-and I only wish government govern-ment could be as efficient." JACK OLSON Jack Olson is normally mild-mannered. mild-mannered. When he drives to work, he often reminds himself as to how "lucky" he is. "I've got one of the best jobs in Utah," he'll say. But if one wants to anger him, just mention a simple five-letter word. Mention the word "Taxes." He'll bristleand that good-natured good-natured smile will be replaced by a feisty earnestness, the expression of a man with a mission. "Utah cannot spend itself into prosperity," he says, "but it sure can tax itself into the poorhouse. I once thought that we could encourage encour-age government to become efficient, effi-cient, but. now I realize that's a waste of time. The only way to limit government spending is to limit the amount of money government govern-ment receives. It's a sorry fact that once the government receives the money, you damn well know it will spend it." Actually, Jack Olson is not against taxes or spending. What he's against is the spending of tax money foolishly. As director for the last 22 years of the local Utah Taxpayers Association, his rock-bottom rock-bottom philosophy is that the citizens should receive "a dollar's worth of good for every dollar collected col-lected in taxes." And when he thinks money is being frittered away unnecessarily, unnecessari-ly, Jack rolls up his sleeve and begins be-gins spoiling for a fight. It's a fight viewed differently by various segments of the population. popula-tion. To many Utahns, Jack is a white knight leading his galloping troops toward the conquering of an inefficient bureaucracy. ..To the educational lobby and public employee em-ployee groups, Jack is a narrow-minded narrow-minded arch-fiend unconcerned with Utah's future citizens. ..To many legislators, he's a Don Quixote Quix-ote lancing at windmills, a sympathetic sym-pathetic man doomed to eventual failure. Jack admits he travels a rough road. "I've become increasingly cynical about government in general," gener-al," he says. "I'm an honest man who is plain-spoken and direct-and direct-and yet over the years I've been lied to so many times, it raises the frustration level. When a business or a family runs out of money, it cuts back and stops spending. Why can't government do the same?" The Utah Taxpayers Association-and Jack in particular-have moved to the forefront of the tax limitation movement, spraying the public media with press releases and radio and television appearances. appear-ances. And yet the association, according to Jack, is often misunderstood. mis-understood. . Many Utahns believe the UTA is a new organization, but it was first there's a tax revolt going on." The education lobby has become Jack's primary foe-and it's a fight that he relishes. In a recent UTA newsletter, he took swipes at the "scare headlines" promoted by the education establishment. Jack claims Utah classrooms are now overcrowded ("in 1950, there were nearly 30 children per teacher; now the average classroom clas-sroom size is down to 23."), that Utah schools are not experiencing tremendous growth ("Between 1955-65, new student growth was 51 percent; in the past 10 years, student growth has only been 27 percent."), that Utah school teachers are not underpaid ("Utah's average teacher salary now ranks 25th nationally, have beaten the inflation rate by 14 percent per-cent over the last 10 years and are now paid an average of $22 per hour for classroom instruction.") that Utah school dollars are being formed in 1922 as a watchdog group to eye increasing property taxes. ..Its opposition sees it as a front for utility companies and conservative con-servative Republicans, yet Jack says 99 percent of its 2,200 members mem-bers are individuals or small business busi-ness firms and that about half of its Board of Directors are at least nominal Democrats. ..Some view the UTA as a big-budget entity, but its annual budget is around $200,000 a mere slice of the total revenues collected by public employee em-ployee groups... And some say that the UTA is "anti-teacher," a claim that Jack vocally refutes. "I have great admiration for public school teachers," he says, "but they are being led down the garden path by a radial minory grouped around the Utah Education Educa-tion Association. The UEA leads the parade, twirls the baton and creates an impossible expectation level for its members. It's an expectation ex-pectation level the taxpayers can't afford-and when the taxpayers balk, the UEA screams like a little child about the unfairness of life. Our organization supported a tax increase and higher salaries for teachers in the late 70's, but the UEA doesn't mention that. All they can talk about now is tax, tax, tax. Instead of trimming nonessential non-essential items, they want to take the easy route and increase the revenue. re-venue. They don't understand that |