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4 Daily Tar Heel/Monday, February 15, 1993 Panel evaluates problems of urban poverty, racial division By Jerry McElreath Staff Writer A six-member panel of policy mak ers and academics evaluated possible solutions to the problems of poverty and racial divisiveness in American cit ies during a Saturday discussion at UNC’s Kenan Center. The panel attempted to answer the question: “Can political support be de veloped for a national urban policy that addresses racial and ethnic needs?” The panel was moderated by UNC journalism Professor Chuck Stone. The discussion was part of a two-day conference called “Race and the Ameri can City The Kemer Commission Report Revisited.” U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., out lined some changes he said needed to occur before urban poverty could be addressed. He said that although the task would be difficult, efforts should be made to improve the country’s urban areas. “I don’t think we should shirk from Carolina Union Performing Arts Series presents MARTHA GRAHAM II Yuriko. Arlisite I iircetor March 2 1 ) m- , ■%. -.1 .f' Memorial | " Hall I / f UNC \ JTJ /: ; y < 111 h * I Tickets: SI 2 (ieneral Public SI 1 Senior Citizens S7 l INC Students Carolina Union Box Office %2-1449 COUNSELOR/TEACHERS Spring Graduates THERE ARE REWARDS... r you enjoy the outdoors, are adept care experience/college degree are !-,Ot camping, hiking and sports preferred. : activities, and can positively influence We offer a Parting of $)5i300 and I P eop ® ' w ® ™ ie y° u 0 P ursue a comprehensive benefits, including room ! awarding future as one of our | ife/m edical insurance, and , Counselor/Teachers. Asa !■ ■■■■!■■! paid vacations and holidavs. We , leader in quality programs for m infe(vjewi £ F|orida youth-at-nsk we have £ locations. 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Franklin St. and Eastgate Shopping Center OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK identifying our cities as areas of need,” Price said. He began by discussing current gov ernment programs that he said could help improve the plight of American cities. One area in which Price said govern ment action could be expected was im proving immunization rates in the nation’s inner cities. He said current rates were sometimes as low as 15 per cent in inner cities, a rate he said was bettered by some Third World coun tries. “Surely we can capture the country’s moral outrage,” Price said. He said existing programs that could be improved included Head Start pre school learning programs, job training programs and planned investment in centives to encourage growth in inner cities. Price said that for such programs to be effective, efforts had to be targeted at areas where they were most needed. Moses Carey, chairman of the Or ange County Board of Commissioners, Controversy increases interest in tax rules for hired help By Ben Parker Staff Writer In the wake of controversy involving several federal officials and one of Presi dent Clinton’s nominees for U.S. attor ney general, many people are taking a closer look at laws regarding Social Security taxes for household employ ees. The controversy arose because of public outcry concerning attorney gen eral nominee Zoe Baird’s admission that she had broken the law by know ingly failing to pay Social Security taxes for two of her household employees. Public furor was so great that Baird withdrew her name from consideration. Melissa Johnson, an employee at the Internal Revenue Service, said many people had not been paying taxes on their household employees. “According to statistics from the Department of Treasury, in 1992 an estimated 2 million people nationwide should have filed (household employee Condoms created the week in 1978, and today it is recognized by family planning clinics, pharmacies and colleges throughout the United States and Canada. Although National Condom Week is recognized by many organizations, Daniel Bao, director of the Condom Resource Center in Oakland, Calif., said it was severely underfunded so events had to be supported locally. Other schools observing the week include the STATE AND NATIONAL said one hindrance to any national policy’s effectiveness was racism at local levels, where the policies actually were implemented. “You have to assume that we still live in a racist nation,” Carey said. He said many people did not care whether urban programs were success ful because they saw such programs as improvements for “blacks and browns.” He said any anti-poverty programs that affected rural areas suffered from the same prejudices. The success of future policies would have to take such perceptions into con sideration, Carey said. “Many people at the local level be lieve such programs wiU only benefit black people,” Carey said. “They’re simply not going to do it” Stone said he agreed with Carey’s sentiments, calling the United States a “totally polarized nation.” During a question-and-answer ses sion that was held after the discussion, a member of the audience asked the taxes), but only 500,000 did,” she said. Barbara Albright, a public affairs specialist for the IRS, said she thought people should realize that aU employers had to pay Social Security taxes. “I would like to think that oversight is the reason why people are not filing these taxes,” she said. Adding, “Any time you hire someone, a bell should go off that you have to pay attention to these taxes.” Norman Ture, president of the Insti tute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan tax and fiscal policy research organization, said politicians and the general public remained unsure of the mechanics of tax laws governing household employ ees. “There is an enormous amount of ignorance surrounding these laws,” Ture said. Ture said that politicians’ ignorance stemmed from the fact that state .and federal employees were exempt from household employee taxes until the University of Miami with an AIDS quilt and condom art contest. For students who placed orders for condomgrams in the Pit last week, CHEC counselors delivered condoms in sealed envelopes for Valentine’s Day. The Daily Tar Heel’s Omnibus en tertainment magazine also joined forces with CHEC in a contest to determine the dumbest excuse for not wearing a condom. The contest winner will be announced in this week’s Omnibus and will receive dinner out from CHEC. The Carolina Union Forum Commit tee will sponsor “SexuaUy Speaking” with Dr. Ruth at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Memorial Hall. Admission is $3 for UNC students and $5 for the public. CHEC also will sell T-shirts and dis tribute information throughout the week in the Pit and at the condom-a-thon. Cuts Hardin said. “We had to put something together very fast,” Hardin said. “We were assured that if there were any real cuts, we would have more time to consider them.” Division of Academic Affairs offi cials said in the report that if faced with a 1-percent budget cut, they would try DM IE Yll MM TIM mi II MTO If you have had mononucleosis in the last 30 days, you could receive SSO each time you donate plasma! SERA-TEC BIOLOGICALS 10916 E. Franklin St. 942-0251 208 W. Franklin St. • 968-FAST r"9m"T§scKfsrtw! P9®™l $8.16 i Y •A / Ji2” 2-Item Pizza & 2 Sodas I |P/^s®3*L|WfiigLgmiiL| I $10.42 I $8.92 I 20” 1-Item Pizza j\6” 1-Item Pizza & 2 SodasJ panelists if they could offer any solu tions for the racial problems inherent in anti-poverty programs. The panel said that they knew of no clear-cut solutions to the problems. Another topic Price discussed was partnerships between local and federal government, as well as between the government and private citizens. Price said that many such partner ships had evolved during the past 12 years, often intended to fill the gap left by failing federal involvement. “I think we ought to look at these kinds of partnerships that have grown up. We’re looking to encourage such partnerships,” Price said. Price said the federal government should give flexible grants and allow local governments to tailor programs for individual communities. He also said he thought there always would be a need for more local funding. “(Flexible programming) does give us a lot more bang for the federal buck,” Price said. 19305. He added that during the years, tax laws had been changed to include more groups who had been exempt. Ture said that in some cases taxpay ers were aware of the tax but were reluctant to pay it because they did not want to draw the attention of the IRS. “Filing this tax is a signal to the IRS to look at one’s income tax as well,” he said. “People may not want them look ing at their income tax. “The IRS needs to do a better job of educating the populace. I personally do not care for the Social Security sys tem.” Evelyn Morton, a lobbyist for the American Association of Retired People, said filing the household em ployee tax was necessary for the em ployee to receive retirement benefits. “Employers must understand the impact of not filing these taxes,” Morton said. Adding, “It will result in the facing of serious hardships for the employee when they file for benefits and find that there is no money there for them.” from page 3 CHEC counselor Paula Hall, a senior from King, hopes students will take advantage of CHEC’s resources. “I would encourage everyone to come out and at least check out the information.” Although some might be concerned that the week’s activities will encour age people to have sex or behave im morally, Dr. Jeffrey Kuller of the De partment of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UNC School of Medicine said making condoms available was not go ing to increase people’s likelihood to have sex. “Condoms are still not going to be as good as abstinence, but it is wiser to use them than not to use them.” Bao said there was a lot of “condom ignorance.” “Our goal is to educate people on the use of condoms. Then they can make their own moral decisions.” to conserve faculty positions at the ex pense of support staff. Hypothetically, the UNC could cut one faculty position or 12 teaching as sistantships. The University also could cut 29 full time and 20 part-time secretaries, typ ists, administrative assistants and work ers in maintenance and in technical sup- He also called for more grass-roots organization, saying that national blan ket programs could not solve every community’s problems. Price also stressed the need for mu tual responsibility on the part of local and national authorities. He said local governments had to bear their share of the load, rather than looking to the fed eral government to bail them out. “I think we have to realize that these solutions are not going to come from federal sources alone,” he said. “If the local governments and states don’t take action on their own, then federal efforts are going to fail.” Price said moral leadership on the part of government officials was neces sary. He said the kind of rhetoric and symbolism that the U.S. government used was important, pointing out Presi dent Bush’s 1988 campaign tactics. “It didn’t help us to have presidential campaigns that featured Willie Horton,” Price said. Price said there was an obligation for Lloyd Duxbury, director of legisla tive affairs for The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medi care, said his group had successfully sued the IRS and the Social Security Administration in May 1992. “The suit was designed to keep people from falling through the cracks,” Duxbury said. Duxbury also said the suit had sim plified the process of notifying the pub lic about its financial status. “The IRS and SSA have agreed to keep better records,” he said. “This suit has made it easier for the employee to get a record of his earnings and Social Security status. When an employee re quests his records, the IRS and SSA must respond.” Duxbury attributed the problem of the uncollected tax to an underground economy. “In some cases, employees may ask the employer not to pay the taxes, and in other cases, the employers don’t want to pay the taxes,” he said. “It goes both ways.” Break mer fellowship to work in Guatemala. Spring Break is still up in the air for Laura Critchen, a freshman from Williamston. “Maybe I’ 11 go to the beach or take a road trip,” she said. “It would be great to just get in the car and go somewhere new.” Other students will vacation with campus organizations. New Generation Campus Ministries will hold a national conference in Charlotte during the break. Jeff Burden, a freshman from Salemburg, will join 15 other members of the University’s New Generation chapter for the five-day gathering.. About 30 students involved in Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship will spend their break in Washington, D.C., participating in an inner-city missions project. They will pay $175 each in expenses to work in food kitchens and port, according to the report. The salary of one full-time faculty member equals the salaries of 12 teach ing assistants. If faced with a 2-percent reduction, the report states that the Division of Academic Affairs could eliminate the equivalent of 12 full-time faculty posi tions. In addition to previous staff reduc tions, five full-time staff positions and two part-time staff positions could be cut. The Division of Health Affairs, which encompasses the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Pub lic Health, could cut 21 full-time and 19 B k™ SPECIALISTS IN TAXES FOR ilncome faculty & students T AX S ervice BOYD INCOME TAX SERVICE, INC. • PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL APPOINTMENTS • FREE ESTIMATES - AFFORDABLE RATES 100 EUROPA DR, SUITE 411 932-9112 HOURS: 9-5 M-F; 9-12 SAT EVENINGS BY APPOINTMENT OC4RQLINK IrftySrfvn* A SOLO PIANO CONCERT ♦ THE WINTER SHOW THURSDAY & FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18 & 19 ♦ 8 PM Memorial Hall ♦ UNC Chapel Hill sl2 UNC Students, sl6 Non-students Reserved at Carolina Union Box Office. Charge By Phone 919-962-1449 Look for George's latest album, those in the public life to set a higher standard. He added that it was impor tant not to drive wedges between gov ernment and the public. Peter Dreier, a professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, said polls had shown that people were will ing to support programs benefiting ur ban areas and poor people as long as they believed their money was being spent wisely. Dreier said that in recent years, people thought their money had gone to waste. “Their expectations over the last 10 to 20 years is that they’re not getting much for their money,” Dreier said. Dreier said that for any poverty-fight ing policy to have an effect, serious reforms of the political process had to take place. He said city dwellers and the under-represented poor had to have a voice in the government for changes to occur. “We have to change the balance of political power in this country,” Dreier said. Albright said the IRS currently was using a toll-free question-and-answer service in an attempt to inform the pub lic about the importance of filing their taxes. Employers must file Form 942 four times per year if a household employee received cash wages of SSO or more in a calendar quarter. Generally, house hold employees include cooks, maids, baby-sitters, housekeepers and caretak ers, Albright said. Morton said there had been a flood of proposals in the U.S. Congress in recent years to change the household employer’s tax. U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-111., has sponsored anew bill that would require an employer to file Form 942 only once a year if an employee was paid S3OO or more during that period. The proposal would cut down on paper work and time, Morton said. The bill will be heard in the U.S. House of Representatives in the early spring. from page 3 do various service projects around the city. Ten student members of Habitat for Humanity will vacation and labor in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Habi tat Co-chairwoman Sarah McKee. The cost is still uncertain, but a com parable trip last year to work in New Orleans totaled about $ 100 per student, McKee said. The group will work from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and have evenings free. “I would recommend this sort of al ternate break to anyone,” McKee said. “This is a really constructive way to spend a vacation. “A lot of people will be going to Florida to go to the beach. We’ll go to the beach too, but the rest of our time will be spent working for other people.” from page 1 part-time staff positions if faced with a 1-percent reduction, the report states. No faculty positions could be cut. A 2-percent reduction could mean the elimination of the equivalent of 10 faculty positions, according to the re port. AHEC, charged with improving health care in rural areas of North Caro lina, could eliminate a part-time faculty position and three grants for medical residents under a 1-percent reduction, according to the report. AHEC could cut a full-time faculty member and six grants for residents if faced with a 2-percent cut, the report stated.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 15, 1993, edition 1
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