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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1978)
Group fights tax revolt ‘feudalism’ Emerald graphic Some computer operators have more fun than others. Whenever a Navy plane is under electronic con trol, that plane is in the hands of a Naval Flight Officer. Naturally, as a candidate for Naval Flight Officer training you'll need some very special qualifications. First, you must really want to fly, even if you’ve never flown before. You'll also need a college degree and a sharp mind Waiting at the end of your training program are the Golden Wings of a Naval Flight Officer. By then you’ll be an expert in areas like Jet Navi gation and Airborne Control, .equipped to do your job wherever you go. But whatever your specialty, travel will be part of your life. And so will challenge, responsi bility, achievement and reward If that’s the kind of career you’re looking for, and if you think you’ve got what it takes to be a Naval Flight Officer, see your local Navy re cruiter. D" ouiivvonc ■ ■ y ricivyi LT Mitch Moore LTJG Dee Bolter On Campus July 24-27 EMU Century Room or Placement Office. By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald Editor's note: While large politi cal groups with a great deal at stake fought feverishly against California’s Proposition 13, small groups were almost forgotten. But that doesn't mean they don't have something to say. The American Indian Party (no con nection to the American Indian Movement) tried to be heard in California. Now they are trying to be heard in Oregon, before it's too late. The threat of a limitation on Oregon's property taxes seems to loom closer each day. But one group that suffered through California’s Proposition 13 hopes people in this state will see the fight against the limitation meas ure as the moral equivalent of war. The American Indian Party, a San Francisco-based organiza tion with fewer than 50 members nationwide, sees the latest wave of tax revolt fever as a war that threatens the very basis of the country’s democratic process. The move by taxpayers — at the prodding of tax revolt guru Howard Jarvis — to cut state property taxes by nearly 40 per cent in California, and similar moves in Oregon, Massachusetts and Michigan, is nothing more than a giant leap backwards into the age of feudalism, according to AIP Secretary Harold Govett. The measure passed in Califor nia, which limits state property taxes to one percent above the 1975 assessed value of the prop erty, will help the huge multi national corporations more than anyone else in the state, Govett says. Those corporations, he says, have invested heavily in farm, re sidential and industrial lands that, when the tax limitation goes into effect, will be worth a great deal. And it will all be virtually tax-free, Govett complains. “What’s been set up here in California is a situation just like in Ireland in the last century,” he says. “The British companies went in and bought up all the land and started growing- products other than the food crops and people began to starve and the whole country was in a mess.” The multi-national corpora tions, acting as absentee land lords over their farm and residen tial lands, says Govett, will pay less taxes and make the greatest gains — just like feudalism. The fact that many members of the California legislature sup ported the tax limitation measure is attributed to only one thing: money. As far as Govett’s group is con cerned, the people with money (the multi-national corporations) are putting people in office who will vote their way. That, coupled with the problem of less local con trol and huge lobbying efforts by special interest groups who want their share of what little money is left, may be eroding the democra tic fiber of the nation. And Govett thinks California may have seen the last of the "one man, one vote” principle with the passage of proposition 13. “•You can't say that these multi-national corporations don’t influence our state congressmen, because they do,” he says. Besides all the fuss about who gets what, Govett and the AIP say the whole premise of proposition 13 is illegal. The measure’s provi sion that it can only be reversed by a two-thirds majority of the voters, is against the constitution of the United States, Govett says. “As far as we’re concerned this is illegal,” he says. “And the illeg ality of it is that only 51 percent of the people can decide what will happen to the tax money, but it will take 66 and two-thirds percent to repeal the limitation law.” That, he says, isn’t right. If a two-thirds majority is needed to vote it out, a two-thirds majority should be needed to vote it in. That's not the worst of it, Govett says. Besides eroding democ racy, the tax limitation also de stroys a very large part of the American Dream: owning a home. (Continued on Page 9) Whittenburg itemizes expenses Tax petition statement filed By KEVIN HARDEN Of the Emerald The suspense is over. Jim Whittenburg, the father of Oregon’s copy cat tax revolt, has filed his financial statement with the secretary of state’s office in Salem. Whittenburg, a Portland lobbyist who originated the property tax limitation petition in Oregon after the overwhelming victory of California’s Proposition 13 last month, filed the financial statement Tuesday. The statement, required by law, details cam paign expenditures and donations for the petition drive. It was handed to the secretary of state by Whittenburg’s lawyer, Leo Young, of Eugene. More than 150,000 state taxpayers signed the initiative petitions, more than enough to place the tax limitation measure on the Nov. 7 general election, ballot. The signatures were twice the 65,000 needed to put the issue on the ballot. But Whittenburg threatened to withhold the form last week until the Legislature could decide on a compromise measure. He asked Legislative leaders to call a special session to discuss the property tax problem, but to no avail. Senate President Jason Boe and state Sen. Vem Cook both warned against calling a special session of the Legislature two weeks ago, saying it would be foolish to take drastic action on one meas ure before the November general election. “If this is a crisis, it’s something that came into being awfully fast,” Cook said last week. “It would be wrong to rush into a special session because of another supposed crisis.” The Legislature should stay out of the tax fight except to give information on the measure’s effects, according to Boe. By fighting emotional rhetoric with tales of doomsday, the Legislature could only aggra vate an already touchy situation, he suggested. “Basically what we'll do now is try to learn from California’s mistakes,” he said. “Our highest priority will be to provide the people of this state with accu rate information on this measure’s effects." Whittenburg, however, thought the legislators should have done more. Had the legislators called a special session and arranged a compromise meas ure giving taxpayers some relief, Whittenburg would have withheld the financial form. However, Secretary of State Norma Paulus said she would file criminal charges against him if he took that action. The tax limitation measure couldn’t have been placed on the November ballot without the form. Complete Ice Cream Party Items for All Occasions BASKIN ROBBINS ICE CREAM Milk Shakes Special Sundaes 1365 Villard St. 495 Coburg Rd. 484-1031 342-3462 •)! EMU Breezeway 01 Delicious Flavors
