Oregon daily emerald., May 21, 1973, Page 6, Image 6

Basis for
timber
taxation
unfair
The timber of the nation is
rapidly becoming an industrial
product and not a harvested
natural resource, but the tax
treatment of timber at all levels
of government is out of step with
business-economic and social
environment facts, according to
Richard Lindholm.
Lindholm, professor of finance
in the University’s College of
Business Administration
Graduate School of Management
and Business, has made an in
depth study of wood fiber
production in Oregon and
requirements for equitable
taxation of the industry. His
recommendations are based on
the conclusion that taxation of
timber resources should be based
on the consideration of the tree as
a wood fiber machine rather than
a natural resource.
Given the concept that a tree is
a manufacturing unit that
allocates its gross output to
further production and to in
ventory, it follows that a portion
of the growth is capital in
vestment and a portion is ac
cumulation of inventory.
Taxation of the wood fiber
production should be treated the
same as production of a chemical
product, Lindholm claims.
Otherwise, there is a violation of
basic horizontal equality (equal
treatment of equals), resulting in
equitable tax practice.
The current federal and state
corporate income tax practice of
not treating the increase in wood
fiber as reinvested earnings and
the Oregon practice of exempting
trees from the property tax until
Professor
explains
Balinese
art,
lifestyle
Balinese and Javanese
cultures, histories and textiles
were presented through slides
and a lecture by Jane Gehring at
Lawrence Hall Friday.
Gehring, an associate
professor of art and art education
at the University, spoke mostly
on the life and culture of the
people of Java and Bali. Textiles
and clothing from these islands
were also presented during the
talk.
Gehring stressed the im
portance of the batiks (ba-tiques)
in the everyday lives of the
people. Batiks are handmade,
multi-colored cloths of different
designs which resemble
tapestries. They serve purposes
ranging from clothing to wall
decorations.
they are of marketable size,
sharply reduces the wood fiber
machine tax burden below that of
other machines in the private
sector, Lindholm said.
Machines of other industries
are subject to the personal
property tax rate applied to
assessed values. Funds invested
in machines, above the
depreciation allowance, are
taxed as corporate profits and
perhaps as personal income.
The tree is a unique type of
machine. It is a unit of production
and is also a procedure for ac
cumulating and holding in
ventory . As long as the wood fiber
production of a tree is increasing
year by year, the owner is
making an additional investment
in productive equipment. When
wood fiber production starts to
decline, the tree becomes more
and more a method of holding
inventory and less and less a
production unit.
According to Lindholm, the
basic economic element that
should determine cutting and
planting policy in respect to
timber is the speed of wood fiber
production from a given area of
land. The decision to cut is
determined by the value of the
tree as a production unit and the
same consideration leads to rapid
restocking of the land, taxed
separately, with producers of
wood fiber (seedlings).
The right decisions are en
couraged by taxing the value of
growth as it occurs and in
deducting restocking costs from
current income. This tax policy
maximizes the production use of
land space occupied by a tree. It
is basically, Lindholm claims,
the same tax procedure applied
to other industries.
He says the time has come, in
other words, for taxing wood
fiber production very largely as
production of other products and
not as a natural resource.
Lindholm’s study also covers
the problems of cutting and
growing of timber on public
lands. Here again the emphasis is
on high levels of production of a
marketable product.
The pattern for each batik is
always drawn in wax with the
lightest colors in the design dyed
first, Gehring noted.
Batiks take from three to five
months to make completely. The
number of colors that are used
will usually make a difference on
the time, Gehring said.
Talking on the cultures and life
of the Balinese, Gehring stated
that festivals and dedications to
the gods are a very important
part of life.
The Bali people are Hindu in
religion, and everything from
eating to sleeping is done in daily
praise before their many gods.
Household gods receive of
ferings daily and food is even put
outside the homes. According to
Gehring, this keeps the evil
spirits from entering their
homes. -
Gehring also pointed out that
the Balinese celebrate almost
everything including birthdays,
weddings and cremations. Most
of the celebrations last about ten
days.
Cremations are a very happy
affair in Bali, Gehring noted. The
body of the deceased is carried to
the burial grounds and is followed
by all the people of the town or
village. After the cremation, the
ashes are put into special con
tainers and put in a lake. All this
is connected with the Balinese
belief in reincarnation, Gehring
stated.
Although education is
developing in Bali, most of the
students have to go to Java to
attend schools and universities,
Gehring commented.
Incidental Fee Committee
to decide on budget
The time has come for the Incidental Fee
Committee (IFC) to make its decision.
The committee finished its second round of
hearings last week, a round in which programs
appealed budget recommendations of the last ASUO
executive. One last round remains, in which the
programs may appeal the IFC recommendations.
After that third round, the committee recom
mendations will be handed to the new ASUO
executives, Greg Leo and Deborah Barnett, to veto
By KEN MAYS
Of the Emerald
any or all of the recommendations. Vetos can be
overridden with a 4-1 vote of the fee committee.
The finalized budget will then be sent to
President Clark, who will pass it on to the State
Board of Higher Education.
But before all that happens, the IFC must make
its own decision. It will be a decision influenced by
executive pressure to keep the incidental fee from
increasing more than $1.50 per student per term. It
will also be influenced by a dominating EMU budget
and a sizeable athletic department allocation. Other
factors to consider are rising costs, inflation and
higher salaries, as well as petitions to the IFC,
signed by hundreds of students attesting almost
every program deserves ASUO funding.
Because the IFC has only about $950,000 to work
with, and because almost $650,000 of that will go into
EMU and athletic department coffers, some
programs will be cut. Some of them will be cut
completely.
If community-oriented programs fall, it will not
be so much because the IFC does not think they are
worthwhile. Rather it will be because the IFC has to
put its priorities on the student-serving programs
simply because student money is being spent.
Jeff Jefferson, an IFC member, says that the
first priorities should be for programs serving the
most students for the least money.
Committee member Gail Hoffnagle would like
to see all salaries cut in favor of token honorariums
given to program directors. Her philsophy is that
once the ASUO starts funding salaries for a
program, that program’s budget mushrooms, and
incidental fees begin to create jobs rather than
service.
Committee member Manuel Hernandez feels
that salaries are necessary to pay individuals for
the time they put in the programs.
The other two committee members, Gloria
Gonzalez and Randy Shilts, tend to lie somewhere in
the center of the extremists.
However, do not expect the IFC’s guidelines to
be much short of drastic. It has already voted to cut
all assistant directors’, consultants’ and part-time
help’s salaries. Instead, it will allot each program a
$2000 salary reserve, available by going to the IFC
as the need arises. The IFC has already voted to
make all directors’ salaries $105 a month, and all
non-work study secretaries’ salaries $40 a month.
Still, there are those programs which were cut
altogether in the executive recommendation: Illahe
School, KWAX, Grower’s Market, University
Theater, Migrant Labor Project, Handicapped
Students, Day Care Center, Action Now, and
Canterbury Center. Each has a good argument for
student funding. The ones that have been cut
because they are too community-oriented are ac
cusing the University of not realizing it is a part of
the community, of shutting itself off from the “real
world.” Most of the IFC members have said the.'
Analysis
did not think that the executive recommendations
were as “culturally conscious” as they should have
been.
But some programs will be cut because they
simply came too far down the priority list. They will
be victims of the EMU addition, inflation and
athletics.
A few programs will have to fold altogether
because thtey had to have student funds. And
inevitably there will be people crying that the
decisions were unfair. They will be right. Any
decision which excludes valuable programs, be they
community-oriented or not, will be in a sense unfair.
It will not be the fee committee’s fault. It will only
be the fault of too many programs and not enough
money.
And finally, an additional note of warning in the
“you -think -it ’s-bad-this-year-department: ’ ’ EMU
director Dick Reynolds projects that the EMU
budget for the 1982-83 school year will approximate
$600,000. Pity the poor folks who are left to figure out
that year’s budget.
Miserable record
Voter registration blamed for
poor election turnouts
This country has a miserable
record of voter participation.
Even in presidential elections, a
60 per cent turnout of eligible
voters would be considered a
record showing
One reason given for the
average American’s apathy
towards the election process is
the difficult registration process:
what is meant by that is you
actually have to make an effort to
become a registered voter and
that effort is just too much for
many people.
What effort is involved? You
simply sign your name on a card
and fill in your address. You are
then a certified, registered voter
in the state of Oregon, eligible to
vote in local, state and national
elections.
The only requirement is that
you be 18. You can register the
moment you arrive in Oregon as
there are no longer any residency
requirements.
You can fill out this card at the
following places: the Lane
County Court House, any city fire
station up to 8 p.m., any Eugene,
Bethel or Springfield school, all
branches of the U'.S. National
Bank, the Portland Federal
Savings and Loan Office, the
Saturday Market, Lane Com
munity College, and at the
University.
The League of Women Voters
conducts a registration drive now
and then and you’ll probably
notice booths in the EMU or in the
Co-op on occasion.
In other words, you don’t have
to go very far out of your way to
register.
One catch is that you have to
register 31 days before a
scheduled election to vote in that
election. This information is for
those who may be moved by a
particular issue only to find it is
too late to register.
You also must re-register if you
move, change your name, or your
party. All you have to do is phone
the Lane County Election office
and they will mail you a card
which you simply fill out and mail
back. You don’t have to appear in
person unless you change parties.
That’s it. It’s a very simple,
uncomplicated process...but it
does lake some effort. You have
to pick up a pen and sign your
name.
■ Oregon Daily Emerald
CLASSIFIEDS