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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 1963)
MEDFORD MAIL TBTWWl!. MIMOAW. OREGON TUESDAY. JULY 16. 1963 A 3 Status of Major Legislation Washington -Jtfffr- status of major legislation: J Income Taxes-- President Kennedy has proposed tax-re-dflption-and-revision bill that w8uld , provide net cut of f 10.4 billion in individual and corporate taxes over three years. House-Ways and Means committee has partly com pleted draft of compromise program. Senate - Awaiting House action. . Military Pay - Administra tion asked $1.2 billion annual pay and benefit boost for all servicemen, reservists and re tirees. House - Passed modi fied version to cost $15 mil lion less and providing no in crease for 832,000 draftees arid enlistees in their first two years of service. House floor. Senate - No hearings scheduled. Man Traniit-Kennedy pro posed $500 million in subsi dies to improve city rail, bus and subway services-. House Banking committee approved bill, pending in Rules com mittee. Senate-Approved $75 million program. Wilderness-President wants to establish a national pro gram to preserve public lands in their natural state. Senate Passed, with provision -covering 8 million acres immedi ately and possibly up to 35 million acres eventually. House-No committee hearings set. Depressed Areas - Kennedy asKed Congress to exDand Included controversial $30.5 million "recomputation" fea ture, for those retired before 1958. Senate - Hearings start Tuesday. Fallout Shelters-President JJennedy wants authority to nja'ke federal contributions toward construction of civil defense . fallout' shelters in schools, hospitals and other non-profit institutions. House -Armed - Services subcommit tee hearings completed, Senate-Nothing scheduled. r Foreign Aid - Administra tion asking $4.5 billion. House -Foreign Affairs committee nearing approval of authoriza tion bill setting ceiling on ap propriations below $4.5 bil lion. Senate - Authorization hearings under way. (Actual appropriations to come later.) ; Health Insurance-President wants hospitalization pro gram for persons 65 and old er financed through social Security taxes. House -Ways 'and Means committee expect ;ad to hold hearings later this year. Senate-Awaiting House faction. : Mental Health-Administra tion wants long-range pro gram for community mental health centers; research on and treatment of. mental re tardation. House - Commerce subcommittee approved, pend ing before full committee. Senate - Approved 10-year $848 million program. v Medical Schools - Adminis tration asked long range con atruction aid for medical-den tal schools, loans to students House-Passed three-year pro- . gram that would cost $236 million. Senate-No hearings yet. College Construction - Ken nedy originally asked for Fed eral funds to build classrooms and laboratories as part of larger $5.3 billion school bill; agreed later to separate bills. House - Education committee approved $1.6 billion in grants and loans for colleges. pending in Rules committee. Senate -Hearings completed on omnibus school bill. Schools and Libraries-Pres ident wants aid continued for "impacted areas" and libra ries. House-Education com mittee approved in separate bills, with' amendments for bidding use of funds for seg regated - facilities. ' Senate -Hearings completed on omni bus school" bill. Voting-President Kennedy 'asked for controls on use of literacy tests, speedier voting rights suits and extension of the Civil Rights commission s .life for four years in his or iginal request last winter House - Judiciary subcommit tee finished hearings on this request. Senate-Judiciary sub committee approved four-year extension of Civil Rights com mission. Public Accommodations Kennedy's main request in his second rights message was for legislation outlawing segrega tion in use of hotels, stores, restaurants, theaters and oth er public accommodations in interstate commerce. He also asked for new authority to initiate school , desegregation suits and optional authority to withhold federal aid to states that practice racial discrim ination. House-Judiciary sub committee hearings u n d e r way. Senate-Commerce com mittee hearings continue this week on public accommoda tion feature; judiciary com mittee started hearings today on full civil rights package. Employment - Kennedy en dorsed Fair Employment Practices commission legisla tion to bar job discrimination by private businesses and la bor unions. House-Labor com mittee has approved FEPC. Senate - Hearings tentatively planned for later this month. Cotton - Administration backed subsidy plan would ' provide cheaper cotton for U. S. textile mills: includes low er support prices for large scale growers and potential relaxation of planting restric tions. House-Agriculture com mittee approved, pending in Rules committee. Senate -Hearings completed. Mexican Farm Hands - 12-year-old law permitting im portation of Mexicans for temporary work on American farms expires Dec. 31; admin istration requested one-year extension with new safe guards to protect domestic workers. House-Bill to ex tend program two years with out change defeated on House sharply program of federal redevelopment aid to local in dustries designed to create jobs in areas of chronically high unemployment. House Rejected. Senate - Approved. House leaders expect to try again for House passage later this year. Youth Employment-Kennedy asked new $100 million youth conservation corps for outdoor work in forests and parks; home town youth corps for local civic projects. House -Education committee has ap proved, pending in Rules com mittee. Senate-Passed. Domestic Peace Corps-President asking for new organi zation of 1,000 to 5,000 skill ed volunteers to carry out work in this country similar to peace corps projects abroad. $5 million first year cost. House - Education and Labor subcommittee hearings may resume later this month. Senate - Labor subcommittee approved. Price-cutting - Administration-opposed bill backed by druggists, and other retail groups is designed to stop re tail price-cutting of brand name merchandise. House -Commerce committee approv ed, pending in Rules commit tee. Senate -No hearings scheduled. Laws Enacted Draft - Congress granted Kennedy's request for four year extension of selective service and doctor draft. Feed Grains-Congress ex tended for two years tempo rary program of paying farm ers to hold down surplus pro duction of corn and other feed grains. National Debt - To permit government to borrow money it needs to keep paying its bills Congress raised legal limit on national debt to $307 billion through June 30 and to $309 billion during July and August. Previous tempo rary limit was $305 billion; further legislation will be needed to prevent ceiling from dropping to $285 billion Sept. 1. Silver-To combat shortage of silver for coins, Congress gave administration authority it requested to replace exist ing silver-backed $1 bills with gold-backed $1 bills. Women Workers - Starting next June employers must provide equal pay for women workers who do the same work as men; new law ap plies to jobs covered by mini mum wage-hour law. Taxes-Congress in response to administration request ex tended for another year pres ent temporary tax rates on corporation profits, liquor,, cigarettes, automobiles, tele phone calls and airline tick ets which had been scheduled to drop to lower levels July 1. (Corporation tax rates would be permanently revised down ward, if Kennedy's tax-reduction program is enacted.) Grange News. Upper Applegate Grange Upper Applegate Grange met recently in regular sum mer session with Master Ed mund Ramsey presiding. Fred West, soli conserva tion chairman, reported that a soil engineer would be pres ent at their next meeting. Legislative Chairman Anna Scott reported the various bills that were passed and those rejected. She also gave a comprehensive report on the state convention of the Grange. : Youth chairman stated there would be a 4-H Preview fair at Ruch on July 26, and a 4-H County fair Aug. 10. . Ways and Means commit tee served a barbecue beef dinner at the new recreation park of the United Slates For est Service on July 14. Treas urer Ed Finley submitted his resignation and Cyrena Davis was elected to the office for the balance of the year. The Master called attention to the Pomona council to be at Phoenix Grange July 17, and the visitation jamboree at Central Point on July 19. At that time the winning Granges of the county will be announced and presented with- their prizes. The Three Graces had charge of the lecture program, Grace Buck, chairman. All played the game Pass the NO SHIFT WORK London-JUPP-The Industrial Welfare Society, which re cently made a survey of nightshift workers and their families, today reported the most provocative answer they received came from a wife who snapped: "My next hus band won't do shift work." Fruit. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Krug gcl entertained with a violin and piano duet. Mrs. Wilma Sharp from Coyote Grange, San Jose, Calif., was a guest. After the meeting, refresh ments were served ' by the Blacks, with a birthday cake for those celebrating their birthday anniversaries during April, May and June. 5sg Your Money's Worth By SYLVIA PORTER Copyright, Hall Syndicate, Inc. TAX. RELIEF 'IN REVERSE' ' Instead of getting relief from our oppressive, obsolete tax burden in 1963, let's face.it: the tax load on us as indi viduals, corporations, self-employed professionals or business men,' property owners, has been and is being sharply in creased. We're not even holding our own on the tax front. We are falling way back, carrying a tax burden much higher than it was even in 1952, the peak tax year of the Korean war. Billions more are being drained out of our pocketbooks and cash registers in taxes this year than last. Considering the blunt, bitter tax facts, our economy has been turning in an extraordinarily good performance. (1) Social security taxes were, as you are aware. Innreasprf as of Jan. 1. The combined tax on employees and employers is now up to 7' 4 per cent, us pulling out $2 billion more from incomes In 1963 than in 1962. In addition, the maximum tax on self-employed persons is now $259.20 a year against $225.60 in 1962. (2) State-and local tax increases are breaking records from coast to coast. Almost every one of the 50 states holding regular legislative sessions this year has hiked taxes on sales, on corporation and individual incomes, on gasoline, on cigarettes, on alcoholic beverages. At the same time our cities are boosting their tax take from every source they can find to tap. (3) Taxes are going up on millions of incomes simply be cause we have a steeply progressive tax structure meaning the higher the income, the higher the lax rate. Incomes have increased this year, and thus so have the tax rates which those getting the incomes must pay. This is the meaning of a "progressive" tax structure and ours is progressive to a degree which makes no financial sense at all. If Congress were now voting a tax cut for individuals and corporations, this would offset this new drag. As of today, the odds on a tax cut applying in 1963 appear next to sero. If Congress were working hard on a tax reduction to apply Jan. 1, 1964, we could foresee an offset soon. As ef now, any prediction on the liming of a tax bill is strictly a guess. . To put it plainly, we are adding to our tax load at a time when the need for relief is greater than ever, for the 1961-? economic expansion is getting "old," unemployment is a serious problem and no new business stimulants are on the horizonr :":' ;- . A question I hear constantly is "What's the ponit in cut ting federal taxes If state, local and social security taxes rise and sop up the money, leaving the economy no better off than before?" - This question misses the heart of the matter so badly it hurts. Here is the heart'of the matter. . - - Social security taxes have gone up to finance expanding benefits which the voting public has demanded. The law on the books right now would raise the combined employer employee rate to 9 Va per cent and the self-employed rate to 6.9 per cent in 1968. The 9' i per cent rate will be mighty close to the limit many experts believe taxpayers will toler ate, but there is no doubt whalsover that social security rates are heading there. State and local taxes have gone up to finance expanding services demanded by a skyrocketing population schools, roads, sewers, water systems, parks, police and fire de partments, etc. As our population continues to soar, more services will be needed and slates and cities will raise taxes to finance these services, for they cannot go into debt to pay for services. They can go into debt only to pay for capital investments. State and local taxes will go up futher. There is only one way we can get offsetting tax relief and that's via across-the-board federal income tax reductions. There is only one sure way we can hold consumer and busi ness spending in a rising trend and thus keep our economy rising and that's via federal tax cuts. 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