Oregon daily _ _
emerald
Tuesday, November 16, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84, Number 53
Labor, business debate sales tax
By Michele Matassa
Of the Emerald
The president of the state's largest
labor union and the dean of the Univer
sity’s College of Business Administration
debated the need for and effects of a
sales tax Monday
AFL-CIO president Irv Fletcher said
the state's economic situation doesn't
warrant changing Oregon's tax structure
to include a sales tax The sales tax is
regressive and places an unfair burden
on lower-income taxpayers, he said
"The more you make, the less you pay
as a percentage of your income,''
Fletcher said
Jim Reinmuth, business college dean,
said a sales tax does not necessarily
discriminate against lower income
taxpayers
"A sales tax is or is not regressive
depending on how it is designed," he
said "It is not inherently regressive "
By exempting goods such as food and
prescription drugs and by increasing
taxes on luxury items, the sales tax could
even be made progressive, Remmuth
said
Fletcher repeated his union's support
for a more progressive income tax and
stricter collection of corporate income
and property taxes He endorsed the
Hendriksen Tax Plan, a proposed re
grouping of income tax brackets to shift
more of the tax burden
Reinmuth said high corporate taxes
contribute to Oregon's high bankruptcy
ranking — third in the nation — and
discourage new high-technology firms
from locating in Oregon
Depending on income taxes is
dangerous because collections are apt
to vary widely. Reinmuth said A sales tax
would be a more stable income source
for government and would "offer the tax
structure more efficiency," he said
Fletcher expressed continued faith in
the wood products industry to provide
jobs, although admitted the industry "will
never come back to what it was three or
tour years ago "
Because high-tech companies will
provide some replacement |Obs. Fletcher
said "I don't want to appear to be anti
high-tech "
Fletcher and Reinmuth agreed that if a
sales tax is enacted, it should exempt
certain goods and heavily tax others
Photo by Dave Kao
Oregon AFL-CiO Pres Irv Fletcher (right) attacks sales tax while Jim Reinmuth,
University business dean, waits for a chance to respond.
Fletcher said it would be difficult
deciding what to tax and what to exempt.
A sales tax would be acceptable if you
had diamonds, sailboats, Bermuda
vacations to start with Beyond that we
have trouble.”
University student experiences boviet lire
By Charlene Bell
Of tt»# Emerald
University student Charlene
Bell is one of 29 Americans cur
rently studying at the Pushkin
Institute in Moscow Bell, an
Emerald reporter, will be send
ing several reports on Russian
life — from the inside out Her
first report was written before
the death of Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev
After studying in Moscow for
nearly two months now. I find
the mundane, everyday realities
of Soviet life more puzzling, and
at times more shocking, than
any reports of exiled dissidents
or labor camps in Siberia
It is only fair to point out that I
and the other students studying
Russian at the Pushkin Insitute
wished to study in the Soviet
Union for non-political reasons
Our appreciation of the Rus
sian language and Soviet cul
ture as well as a genuine desire
to become acquainted with the
Soviet people, compelled us to
apply to the program The group
is sponsored by the American
Council of Teachers of Russian,
one of three American contin
gents at the Institute
Originally 34 students from
American universities were
selected to participate in the fall
1982 semester program at the
Insitute Five of those students
were from the University — the
largest group of students from a
single school.
The day before our group was
scheduled to leave Philadelphia
to go to New York in late August,
the program director received
word that the Soviets were
withholding six visas. Two of the
“refuseniks,” as we dubbed
them, were from the University
According to the director, the
decision to cut the American
quota came from the Supreme
Soviet. The Soviet position re
Onion-shaped domes crown Ivan's Cathedral in the Moscow
Kremlin
mained firm despite long con
versations with the U S State
Department
Weeks later in Moscow, we
learned the ' official” reason for
the American quota reduction.
The Soviet line was blunt and
impersonal. The six Americans
were refused visas because
they were not "serious students
of the Russian language.” The
students speculated that our
quota was reduced due to
American embargo of materials
for the Soviet gas pipeline to
Western Europe
Only the American contingent
suffered a quota reduction out
of all .the countries represented
by students studying at the
Pushkin Institute. It seemed that
countries that supported the
Soviet pipeline received a quota
increase
For example, Great Britain
received a quota increase
although one British student
confessed he had never en
rolled in a Russian course.
This incident clearly showed
us that there is no division
between political and social life
in the Soviet Union.
However, as foreign students
— particularly as Americans —
we lead a privileged existence
that is somewhat idealized and
certainly not typical.
If we choose to, we may avoid
the long food lines that Mus
covites suffer through daily and
eat all of our meals at the insti
tute cafeteria. We also can
avoid shopping with Russians
entirely by spending American
dollars and travelers' checks in
special “berlozka” stores where
only foreign currency or
“valuta" is accepted.
At this writing, Moscow is ex
periencing a “deficit" of eggs,
milk, toilet paper, tomatoes and
cucumbers.
Even without official news of a
“deficit," Moscovites usually
stand in three lines to buy
goods. And in the Soviet
fashion, the natives buy in large
quantities, often filling three
shopping bags.
In the first line Muscovites
inspect the goods and decide
wnicn ones iney wish iu uuy.
Then they walk to the particular
cashier assigned to that depart
ment and stand in line to pay for
the goods. The customers must
then stand in a third line to pick
up the merchandise
The Soviets seem to have
developed a type of ‘‘crowd
psychology'' to help them sur
vive the system.
In the first line, the store
counter often is surrounded
with shoppers inspecting
merchandise to see what is be
ing sold. There, shoppers must
literally elbow their ways to the
counter.
Those who succeed in
standing their ground at the
counter can question the
harried sales clerks and exa
mine the goods as much as they
want. But those who are weak
and don’t state their business in
fast-and-fluent Russian will be
ignored and impatient shoppers
behind them will shove them out
of the way.
To avoid this, many Soviets
instinctively form lines when
intJy see mci ^nanuioc ycmy
sold without knowing either
what is being sold or the price.
Then they ask the people in
front of them what is being sold.
At this point some shoppers
decide they are not interested
and they leave — but no one
ever leaves before holding a
place in line.
Some Soviets who want to
hurry up the process will ask
people to “remember I’m in
front of you" and then go stand
in several shorter lines before
returning to the first line.
More aggressive Muscovites
simply shove their way to the
front of the line. It is not unusual
to see Soviet lines growing large
in the middle as shoppers cut in
close to the front
Because the other people in
line shout insults at the "cut
ters" it is not a technique Amer
icans master easily.
Future articles by Bell will
cover Soviets' attitude toward
Americans, Soviet "Vanyas”
(spas) and the system of
privilege in the Soviet Union.
Brezhnev buried in Red Square
MOSCOW (AP) — Leonid Brezhnev was buried Monday
in Red Square with a somber military ceremony as grimly
stolid as his 18 years at the Kremlin helm.
His successor as Communist Party chief, Yuri Andropov,
pledged in a eulogy to pursue Brezhnev’s policies at home
and abroad, and offered in a meeting with U S. Vice President
George Bush to "build relations’’ with the United States.
Andropov warned, however, that the Soviets could "give
a crushing rebuff to any attempt at aggression.’’
Hundreds of foreign leaders attended the funeral cer
emony, and tens of thousands of Soviet citizens packed the
vast central square, silently holding aloft scores of Brezhnev
portraits trimmed in the red and black of official mourning.
Brezhnev, only the fourth leader in the 64-year history of
the Soviet Union, died of an apparent heart attack Wed
nesday. He was 75. Andropov was elected to the Brezhnev’s
most powerful post within two days.