I
Sales tax ban
an apt move
All those who object to the state instituting a sales
tax must be pleased with the way Senate President Ed
Fadeley, D-Eugene, has all but smothered the possibility
of its passage. Fadeley, an adamant sales tax foe, has
squeezed the life out of a House plan by proposing an
amendment to the state constitution that permanently
prohibits enactment of a statewide sales tax.
This proposed constitutional ban is admirable for
many facets, including its aptness and sneakiness.
Fadeley deserves a slap on the back for maneuvering the
whole sales tax issue to a point where it becomes moot.
The phrase, a few words supplanting five months of
work in the House, reads: “No general retail sales tax
shall ever be levied for purposes of defraying the ex
penses of the state.” The proposed constitutional amend
ment was passed by Fadeley’s Senate Select Committee
on Constitutiuonal Revision of Finance and now goes to
the full Senate this week.
The need for sales tax is not as desperate as it once
appeared to be. In fact, at the present time a sales tax
would cause more detriment than good. The economy of
the state, while not booming, is steadily improving. The
number of unemployed in the state is gradually declining.
Timber sales and revenues are steadily increasing. An im
proved economic condition for the state is becoming
apparent.
Objections to the sales tax lean toward its
regressiveness, and its tendency to hit the less
economically advantaged hardest. Families struggling
with the bleak economy would have the added burden of a
sales tax on consumer items. Well-to-do families would
be more readily able to recover from the added expense of
a sales tax.
Also there is the objection of yet another tax
mechanism imposed on taxpayers in the state. The pun
dits for the sales tax claimed it would be rescinded in
time, but how often have taxpayers seen temporary taxes
suddenly become permanent?
The present tax structure of the state — property tax
and income tax — is progressive. The amount of tax is
based on an assessment of income and valuable property.
These two revenue sources ought to be sufficient to
balance the state’s budget. Fadeley thinks so.
Oregon is among a few of the states in the U S. that
function without a sales tax. Most states use a three
pronged approach to revenue building — an income tax, a
property tax and a sales tax. Oregon has always resisted a
sales tax. In bad economic times the loss of that third
revenue source makes for drastic budget measures. A
sales tax has been bandied about during most of the
special sessions the past few years. Depending on who
was talking, the sales tax was either imperative to the
economic health of the state, or an unnecessary move
that would create problems.
It is enjoyable to stand back and watch the maneuver
ings of Salem politics. Fadeley and House Speaker Grat
tan Kerans, D-Eugene have been masterful in their efforts
to throttle the unnecessary sales tax-property tax relief
measure. Kerans, also a sales tax toe, was especially
astute to pass off the whole sales tax package to the
Senate.
Fadeley’s select committee's motion to make a retail
sales tax unconstitutional is the best move. The pro-sales
tax forces appeared to be on the verge of a successful
campaign in the Senate. The coalition of local govern
ment, education, high technology and business lobbyists
pushing for the sales tax are now unsure of what to use to
defeat Fadeley’s proposal. Perhaps they don’t realize the
fight is over?
opinion
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cort fernald
sidelong glances
Perhaps it’s Eugene’s grey, balmy, sum
mer days. Perhaps it's the leisurely pace of
summer activity — tubing on the wily
Willamette by the bike bridge, tanning
marathons in Alton Baker Park, piaying 18
holes of frisbee golf, taste-testing various
brewskis until the world grews woozy, getting
the cat spayed or neutered, or sitting on the
bench in front of the bookstore watching all the
latest in nouvelle vague attire trounce up and
down 13th Avenue. Whatever the reason it
seems that University students, some of the
same students who don’t idle their pens all
year, have neglected writing letters to this
newspaper.
Hello? Is there anybody out there?
Letter writing is an oft abused, much
misunderstood art form. Some o' the best
writers of prose — well, like Marcel Proust,
were masters of letter writing. Imagine Marcel,
in bed, with a tray of coffee and croissants and
petulant caller at the door, writing a letter to the
Emerald.
To the esteemed Editor —
The article of 23 June concerning the
canoes on the silty green waters of the Millrace
piques my conscience. The long slow summer
mornings with the sinuous strands of spiroid
fog above the waters are embellished with
more favor in my recollection than by your jour
nal When I drift through the tenor of my
memory I envision more texture to the instant
than seems certain in the grey tones of your
photograph Please, as my mind pitches, desist
from this unwarranted tribute
Yours, *JP
Imagine Ernie Hemingway sitting in a
smoking shellhole in Spain, with a biack bat
tered Smith-Corona manual balanced on his
knees, writing a letter to the Emerald.
Sirs,
It's a shame I mean the article The one
about the boats. A man needs more informa
t
tion. You should listen in cafes. A boat takes to
the water. The water goes until forever. Rivers
don't need words. Stop it.
Ernie
Picture stately plump Samuel Taylor Col
eridge, head in hand, seated at his writing desk
penning a letter to the Emerald.
Worthy Editor:
Upon perusal of your tabloid leaves I
perceived a spare and delicate pictorial pertain
ing to the punters on the Millrace. Here in
Xanadu we ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Imagine if the reclusive Thomas Pynchon
wrote a letter the Emerald. He would probably
sign it B. Traven. Maybe Emily Dickinson would
write something about this newspaper being as
public as a frog.
For some unfathomable reason there have
been but few letters submitted to the Emerald
since we began summer publication. Yow —
this is an odd occurrence. Usually we have a
surplus of letters on everything from “The Pro
liferation of Radical Sudanese Backgammon
Players" to “Why’s't Nob’y Rales, Huh?”
Where are the arch lefties and dyed-in-the-wool
righties? What complacence has benumbed
journalism and English majors?
The letters section is a forum for Emeiaid
readers — for their cares and worries on any
topic. We don’t take letters to the editor lightly.
A letter that chastises us for a grammatical guf
faw or complements us on a good job is read
with interest. Some of us take lumps from letter
writers I've been personally attacked as well as
praised on different occasions A letter will tell
a writer if he is addressing an audience or miss
ing them by a mile.
Summer term is a sedate time, sometimes
it's tough enough to write your Mom let alone
write the Emerald. But remember you don’t
have to be guilty about writing to the Emerald
— and we can’t send you money either.
letters
Automation
In the June 6 edition of the
Emerald, Editorial Page Editor
Joan Nyland moaned about
ort 'Cjon daily
_emerald
The lumnrn edition ot the Oregon Daily [imiim is publish
•d Tuesdays ana Thursdays ercapl during ••am aaak and
vacations by the Dragon Daily Emerald Publishing Co at lha
Univarsily ol Dragon fugana Dragon 97403
Th* Emarald operate* independently ot lha Univarsily with
officas on lha ihird floor of lha lib Mamonai Union and is a
mambar of lha Associated Press
Nasas and Editorial MM Mil
display Advertising and Business MM JMJ
Classified Advertising MM 4141
Production SM 4M1
Circulation SM Si 11
Editor
Managing Editor/News Editor
Edtlortat Page Editor
Photo Editor
At social* Editors
Mighar f icationrOeparim«nts and Schools
Studant Government
Politics Editor
Community Edilor/Highar Education
Night Editor
Ganarai Staff
Advertising Manage'
Clastrliad Advertising
Production Manager
Cont rotter
--
Debbie Howlolt
Sandy Johnstone
Cort Eernaid
Mars Pynas
Joan Herman
Jim Moore
Brooks Dared
Michele Matassa
Cort Eernaid
Danene Gore
Salty Otiar
Victoria Koch
Jean Ownbey
her pessimism. In doing so,
she made the incorrect and
time-worn generalization that
“...Automation, with the
parallel move to manufactur
ing in Third World countries
where labor is cheaper, means
fewer jobs, more unemploy
ment and more wealth for the
few here.”
Automation and cheaper
labor mean lower prices for
consumers because of lower
costs of production. This
leaves consumers with more
disposable income than
before. They will choose to
spend that additional money
immediately or save it for
future consumption, in either
case, buying goods with the
extra money will cause in
creased demand in the in
dustries they choose to spend
their money in. Increased de
mand will cause the affected
industries to hire more
workers to process the accom
panying increase in produced
goods. In the short term there
may be unemployment, but in
the long run there will be more
jobs.
Nyland correctly realized
that protectionism means
higher prices but failed to see
that the opposite is caused by
automation. If the age-old
myth that automation causes
a loss of jobs were true, it
would be interesting to ex
plain how the United States
and Western European coun
tries survived their Industrial
Revolutions.
Richard Bun
senior, poli. science/joum.