Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / July 12, 1984, edition 1 / Page 3
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GMAck? wonI V Uoq ple^Se j-hii t nitJqf uV>f\ctJf\ y A foo much -hfctffic ? Do me * Wofi - St/Of Off f/,es<L ? \ I ? 1 J FowLx^BvJ - JOHft PfMdpHna Xorw On*y. Quantity Rights Reserved. ?CFM 1964. Convenient I Food Marl Opinions Straight % tax what's needed By Richard A. Viguerie It's the night of April 15th. Once again, you've put off filing your income tax return until the last minute. You pull out your Form 1040F (F for flat) tax form, and fill it out: 1.) What was your income last year? 2.) Subtract business expenses, taxes and interest, Social Security and disability income, alimony payments, IRA contributions, charitable contributions, and a few other similar deductions. 3.) Subtract another $2,000 for each member of your family (in cluding yourself). 4.) Pay 10V? of the remainder. That's your tax. Sign your name at the bottom, and you still have plenty of time to rush to the post office before mid night. A simple, fair, flat tax-sounds too good to be true, doesn't is? But just such a tax has been proposed by Congressman Mark Siljander (R-Michigan). Siljander knows that the odds are great against his proposal. "Members of Congress are really addicted to two things," he says. "They're addicted to spending and they're addicted to confusion, and they perpetuate both for their own benefit." But he also knows that Americans are sick and tired of a system that taxes working people at rates originally intended only for the rich. The people are frustrated because one politician after another promised to help reform the lax code--and then apparently forgot that promise as soon as he or she was elected. It has been eight years since Jimmey Carter called the tax system "a disgrace to the human race." yet our political leaders have done nothing to make it more simple and fair. The tax code is now some 2.000 pages long, and Internal Revenue Service regulations run to 10,000 pages. (No that's not a misprint-10,000 pages.) Many taxpayers fear that an honest mistake will send them to jail. Since President Reagan took of fice, Congress has voted four times to raise taxes; another massive tax increase is likely right after the election. Every year. Congress passes more loopholes for a chosen few, and the tax code gets more complicated. The $50 billion tax hike recently approved by the House of Representatives was 1,023 pages long plus 810 pages of explanations. As Siljander points out, those regulations "are riddled with loop+ttrtes that enable those who are rich enough to hire experts to help ihem 'beat the system' Those who are not rich enough wrestle with an octopus of forms, instruc tion booklets, attachments, adden dums, tables, charts, updates, and advisories and wind up with eye strain, a migraine headache, and upset stomach and the worry that an audit might jump out of the next mail delivery." Americans pay S60 billion a year lo people who help them fill out their tax returns. And how many times have we heard stories like this one? In 1979 an accounting professor created a tax return for hypothetical family of four. He went to five profes sional tax prepares and two IRS offices, and each gave him a dif fernt figure on the amount of taxes owed. According to one estimate, the family owed the IRS $2,238; according to another estimate, the family was entitled to a refund of $485. Why doesn't Congress clean up this mess? Because a complicated tax system allows Congressman to reward their friends or to manipulate the economy to suit their own purposes. A few years ago, a Congressman from Ken tucky, sitting on the Ways and Means (tax) Committee, got a special break for owners of a cer tain kind of racehorse. It made him a hero back home. Other congressmen have used the tax code to promote wood burning stoves, gasahol, explora tion for oil, low-income apart ments, inner-city buses, motion pictures, and foreign trade. There are literally thousands of ways in which the tax code is used to make us spend our money one way in stead of another. One result is that many business decisions are based not on what will increase profits (and, incidentally, produce jobs), but on what will take advantage of tax loopholes. In 1920 the income tax affected only the richest 12 ?7? of the adult population. By 1940, the richest 24?7o paid income taxes. That in creased to 5T7t in 1950 and 67 in 1960. The income tax was suppos ed to apply only to the wealthy, but today it hits four out of five Americans. The average working person in this country pays a higher tax rate than the medieval serfs, who were virtual slaves. Mark Siljander's proposal is the kind of tax cut this country needs: one targeted at average Americans who made this country great, not just at people who own racehorses or sell wood-burning stoves. Besides, the government has no business asking for more than 10f? of our hard-earned money. Cod asks us to return to Him a tithe, one-tenth of our income, in return for all the blessings He has given us. However much we honor God, we should not honor Saesar more. This state's voters on political rock By Cliff Blue Looking back over political history. North Carolinians seem to find themselves on top of a hard rock as they approach election day November 6, 1984. North Carolina for many years was strong on the side of the Democratic Party, and still may be. In 1960 John F. Kennedy carried the state for president with 713,136 votes defeatirg Richard Nixon by a vote of 655,420. In 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson won North Carolina with a vote of 800,139 against Barry Goldwater with 624,844. In 1968 Richard Nixon won the state with 627,192 with Hubert Humphrey receiving 464,1 13 votes and George Wallace receiving 4%, 188. In 1972 Richard Nixon carried the state with 1,054,889 with George McGovern receiving 438,705 and John G. Schmitz, 25,018 of the American party. In 1976, Jimmy Carter carried the state with 3,336,665; Gerald Ford receiving 3,060,695. In the most recent presidential election, 1980, Reagan in North Carolina received 915,018; Jimmy Carter 875,635; Ed Calrk, Liber tarian, 9,677; Barry Commoner, 2,287; John B. Anderson, 58,800; Clifton DeBerry 416. For U.S. Senator in 1978, Jesse Helms, republican, was reelected by a vote of 619,151 over John In gram, Democrat with 516,663. In 1982 John Porter East, Republican, was elected to the United States Senate over Robert Morgan, Democrat. The above elections were for President and members of the United States Senate. Presently, there are two Republican U.S. Senators, Jesse Helms and John East. U.S. HOUSE MEMBERS. . . In the National House of Represen tatives there are eight Democrats People and Issues and four Republicans. Here are the eight Democrats: Walter B. Jones of Farmville, represents the 1st Congressional District, since 1966, Democrat. L.H. Fountain, Elected to Con gress in 1952 from 2nd District, serves on Foreign Affairs and other committees. A Democrat. Charles O. Whitley, U.S. Con gressman since 1977, serves on the Agriculture and other congres sional committees. Ike Andrews, Elected to U.S. Congress in 1982. Serves on Education and Labor Committees and others. A Democrat. Stephen L. Neal, elected to Con gress from the Fifth Congressional District in 1974. He serves on the Banking, Finance and Urban Af fairs Committee and others. Walter Eugene Johnston, III, Elected to Congress from the Sixth District. A member of the Budget Committee and others. Charles G. Rose, III, A Democrat, serves on the Agriculture and other committees, from the Seventh Congressional District. William G. (Bill) Hefner, represents the Eight Congressional District since elected in 1974. IN CONGRESS . . . North Carolina is represented in the Con gress by two Republican United States Senators and four U.S. Congressmen, and the Democrats by seven U.S. Representatives. The two parties are working hard to increase their numbers. The Democrats have a good ma jority in the House, but, the Republican Senators have the full power for the state. AMENDMENT. . . One propos ed Amendment before the State* today, already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, would make it a law in every state to set the minimum alcholic driving law at 21.
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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July 12, 1984, edition 1
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