Sandy post., February 21, 1980, Image 3

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Questions for the candidates
NEW Y O R K - If you had the chance,
what would you ask this year’s
presidential candidates about their
plan for the U.S. economy?
Because of a previous engagement, I
had to turn down an invitation to the one
of three questioners of the Republican
contenders at their televised debate in
Manchester, N.H., Feb. 20. But I got to
wondering what sort of questions might
have been appropriate, and (since the
answers at these affairs are usually
less than totally forthcoming, anyhow)
I thought I’d pass the queries on to you,
for whatever they might be worth. Feel
free to make your own amendments
and additions.
First, I think we ought to try to pin
down all the aspirants on their
priorities — if any — for economic
action. One of the problems with our
recent incumbents has been an
inability, or at least unwillingness, to
make these hard choices. In other
words, what is indeed the country’s No.
One economic problem’’ If it’s inflation,
what specific sacrifices would you be
willing to make, or demand, in order to
contain it? How would you resolve other
conflicts between apparently deserving
causes: for example, between in­
creased energy production and existing
standards of environmental purity?
specific commitments to specific
groups’’ What reason do we have to
believe that yours would not be one
more mortgaged presidency ?
Next, to more specifics:
On the budget — Don’t just complain
(as you surely will about Jimmy
C arter’s glaring failure to keep even his
most basic 1976 commitments about
reining in federal spending and
balancing the budget. Tell us how you
are going to achieve what he (and so
many others) glibly prom ised— and
then defaulted on. Would your budget
for the fiscal year starting next October
have been in balance? How? What,
specifically, would you have cut out of
the current spending projections?
Would you have sought, not just an
arithm etical balance at this date, but a
significant surplus? How big? How
would you have achieved this? What
would you do with this surplus?
On energy — Can we expect to see
FROM THIS, it would be logical to conventional demagoguery from you,
turn to the question of what are known scapegoating the hated oil companies,
in Washington as "special interests.” or will you undertake the difficult task
To what extent will your campaign of educating the electorate about the
dissolve into politics-as-usual about the necessity for private growth and
American economy — promising profits? Which alternative sources
subsidies to farmers, legislative would you favor? Would you burn more
protection to unions, tariffs and quotas coal — and at what cost in increased
to businessmen — and to what extent pollution? Would you throw up your
would you really be a free man as hands at the hazards posed by nuclear
president’’ How many "due bills" have energy, or even ban it, or would you
you already passed out, in the form of push for technological solutions to
technological challenges’’ How?
ON TAXES — Do you agree with
Jimmy Carter that it would be im­
prudent and irresponsible to ease the
U.S. tax burden in a year in which
existing legislation would otherwise
increase that load by $50 billion? If not,
whose taxes would you cut, and which
ones: income, Social Security, energy,
capital gains9 Would you immediately
propose commensurate reductions in
federal spending?
On controls and regulation —
Everyone wants to get the government
off his or her back, but give us some
details: Whose back? Which part of
government? How far are you willing to
go? Which regulations and controls do
you think are desirable, or even
essential? Are there any new ones you
would propose? What wage-price in­
tervention might you favor?
And, finally, I would try to get some
clearer statement from the candidates
of what would be their personal hope,
and vision, for the U.S. economy a
decade from now. The politician must
deal with passing problems, but the
statesm an should have a guiding sense
of where he wants to go. Do any of these
men truly have it? Would any of them
actually be able to give satisfactory
answers to all these queries? Now,
th at’s a good question. . .
(c) 1980 McNaught Syndicate, Inc.
Hearing set on trucking rules
The
Oregon
T ra n s­
portation Commission will
hold a public hearing dealing
primarily with the adoption
of rules and regulations
concerning trucks and
trailers beginning a t 1:30
p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, in
the Main Conference Room
of
the
T ransportation
Building in Salem.
Meanwhile, the trucking
in d u stry
has
"g ra v e
reservations”
concerning
provisions of the motor
c a rrie r
re g u la to ry
legislation, the president of
the - Oregon
Trucking
Associations said last week.
However, the regulated
m otor c a rrie r industry
supports that portion of U.S.
House of Representatives
legislation which gives
"specific directives to the
I n te r s ta te C o m m e rc e
Commission for future truck
e c o n o m ic
re g u la to ry
policy,” said OTA President
Robert R. Knipe.
The
House
trucking
legislation was introduced
last week
At the Oregon hearing, the
adoption of four proposed
rules will be considered.
The first rule would con­
sider w hether allowing
longer, g re a te r-ca p a c ity
trailers to operate on Oregon
highways would result in any
detriment to highway safety,
and whether such trailers
should be p erm itted to
operate in rainy weather if
equipped with special splash-
guard equipment.
Present rules prevent the
operation of certain com­
binations during rainy
w eather,
but
industry
re se a rc h has developed
devices to suppress splash
and spray. Adoption of the
rule will result in significant
fuel and cost savings, and aid
in interstate uniformity in
trucking regulation.
The second rule proposes a
revision in existing rules
governing the lengths of
vehicles and combinations of
vehicles operating over state
highways. The revision is
n ecessary
to
achieve
uniformity with statutory
amendments enacted by the
60th legislative Assembly.
Under the proposal, the
allowable length of a single
vehicle, when used in
com bination with other
Vehicles, would be allowed to
increase from 35 to 40 feet.
The 40 foot length is
presently used by all ad­
joining states, and by a
majority of all states.
The th ird rule would
permit the State Highway
E n gineer
to
re stric t
m ovem ent
of
over­
dim ensional vehicles or
loads. The rule would be
imposed to protect the safety
and convenience of the
traveling public, to protect
the highway from damage,
or to avoid conflict with
construction or local traffic
conditions.
'The foirth rule will con­
sider the adoption of the
Attorney General’s Model
Rules of Procedures under
th e
A d m in is tra tiv e
ITixedures Act as a General
Procedural Rule of the
O reg o n T r a n s p o r ta tio n
Commission, and the various
divisions of the Department
of Transportation.
Robert Hamilton, director
of P e rm its, has been
designated hearing officer.
Interested persons may
present their data, views and
arg um ents orally or in
w riting a t the hearing.
Written comments will also
be considered if received by
the Transportation Com­
mission by mail postmarked
no later than Feb. 16.
Copies of the proposed
rules may be obtained by
contacting Robert Gormsen,
m a n a g e r,
C om m issio n
Services, Room 121 Trans­
portation Building, Salem.
Tax relief refunds might be income
Refunds received under
Oregon’s 1979 Tax Relief
Plan, as well as regular
Oregon Income Tax refunds,
may be considered income
for Federal Income Tax
return purposes.
"Recipients of Renter’s
Refunds are not required to
include this refund as income
on their Federal income tax
returns,” said Ralph B.
Short, district director for
Internal Revenue in Oregon.
" It is not taxable.”
The Tax R elief Plan
provided additional Renter’s
and Homeowner’s Property
Tax Refunds, and a Rebate
of 1978 Oregon Incom e
Taxes.
Refunds of Oregon Income
Tax and Property Tax may
be considered incom e,
depending on whether or not
taxpayers received a tax
benefit in a prior year from
deducting those taxes on
their Federal returns, Short
said. Only those who itemize
their deductions for 1978 or
1979 are affected, however.
Taxpayers not itemizing
deductions do not have to
include the refunds in in­
come.
State income tax refunds
have always been taxable on
Federal returns under these
conditions. However, the
issue will affect more people
than ever before because of
the special nine percent
rebate authorized by the
State Legislature.
Additional Homeowner’s
Rebates, under the Tax
Relief Plan, were not sent out
in the form of a check to most
taxpayers. Instead, their
1979-80 Property Tax bill was
reduced by the amount of the
Property Tax Relief.
Those taxpayers who filed
too late to receive a reduc­
tion in their property tax
statem ents will receive a
rebate check in the mail.
Taxpayers who received
these refund checks in
December do not include it in
income, but must reduce
th e ir 1979 property tax
deduction by the amount of
the rebate.
However, taxpayers who
receive their 1979 property
tax refund by check in 1980
must include the amount in
income on their 1980 income
tax return if they used
property tax as an itemized
deduction in 1979. Taxpayers
who did not itemize deduc­
tions in 1979 do not have to
report the property tax
refund.
T elephone hearings appeals approved Logging m eeting slated n ex t w eek
A new rule has been
adopted by the S tate
Employment Division which
provides for the use of
telephone
h earin g s
in
m a tte rs of ap p eals of
claimants and employers
pertaining to Unemployment
Insu ran ce
(U .I.), Ray
T h o rn e , a d m in is tr a to r ,
E m p lo y m e n t
D iv isio n
reported here today.
The new rule provides a
policy for a single telephone
hearing for parties whose
locations are such that they
cannot reaso n ab ly and
conveniently travel to a
single hearing location at
which they and the referee
conducting the hearing and
deciding the case can par­
ticipate together. It further
p rovides
for
taking
testim o n y by telephone
during hearings whenever it
is advisable to do so because
of the distance participants
might otherwise be required
to travel, and whenever
taking
testim o n y
by
telephone will not jeopardize
the rights of the parties,
Thorne reported.
Thorne said that besides
the energy saving aspects of
telephone hearings for U.I.
ca se s, the system has
definite other advantages.
One of the most important is
that in the case of "split”
hearings where the claimant
is in one location and the
employer is in another, the
telephone hearing enables
the two parties to confront
one another.
Previously, when separate
hearings for the claimant
and the employer were held,
this confrontation was not
possible, Thome said. Also,
the entire telephone hearing
is tape recorded for a
complete transcript.
“ The
E m p lo y m e n t
Division started about two
years ago to improve the
hearings process and provide
quality hearings with time
and money savings for all
parties. We researched the
work already being done in
other states, particularly in
New Mexico where Jerome
Corsi of the University of
New Mexico had undertaken
an experimental project of
telephone hearings, both
interstate and intrastate. We
set up our own ‘experiment’
in our Eugene hearings
branch office.
Informational meetings on
Oregon’s new logging safety
code will be held next week in
Estacada and Molalla by the
W orkers’ C om pensation
Department.
The Molalla meeting will
be Monday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m.
m Room 408 at the new senior
high school. The Estacada
meeting, which also begins
at 7 p.m., will be Tuesday,
Feb. 26, in Council Chambers
at City Hall.
The meetings will be open
to all logging operation
employers and employees,
including log truckers.
Loggers will receive
general information on the
new code and tra in in g
p ro g ra m r e q u ir e m e n ts
employers will have to meet
by May 1 this year
The meetings will cover
new aspects of the code,
which replaces the 1969
version. Code changes and
new code structure will also
be explained. The Depart­
m ent’s Accident Prevention
Division will conduct the
meetings.
An APD spokesman said,
"We’ll have copies of the new
standard available, as well
as employer guides on how to
put together written training
programs.
"In addition, attendees will
have plenty of time to ask
questions about the code,
p a rtic u la rly
the
new
requirem ents.”
The free meetings will run
three hours.
"After viewing the results
of this project we decided to
expand telephone hearings
statewide with all interstate
hearings done by phone.
FREE
Organically
grown
oranges
while
they
last!
Now Reopened!
THE HEALTH HOUSE
OPEN LATE
C
has a
New Location
Now at 38906 Proctor, Sandy, site of former
Westland Realty office. Same phone: 668-8281.
To Our Customers:------ --------------------------------------------
'Thanks for your patience during our closure
following the fire. Our new store will be larger
and more convenient for you. Come in and tell us
what you want us to order for you..."
- Sharon Poublon & Della Christensen
The Health House
38906 Proctor Boulevard, Sandy. 668-8281
THURSDAY & FRIDAY
DRIVE-UP: 7 A M -7 PM
LOBBY: 9 A M -7 PM
MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY; DRIVE-UP: 7 A M -5 PM, LOBBY: 9 AM -5 PM
BANK WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS
hdepENdENT B an I l of SANdy
38561 PROCTOR BOULEVARD IN SANDY, OREGON • PO BOX 70
MEMBER: FDIC
•
TELEPHONE: 668-8030