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