THE GUILFORDIAN
The Food Sales Tax and You
Ly Carolyn Williams
Picture yourself five years
from now. You are out in the
big bad world, with some
$6,000-a-year job, and a
spouse and child. The
landlady is pounding on your
door for the rent, the doctor is
billing you, and ALWAYS,
those grocery bills are
draining your pockets.
For a family of four, a
typical grocery bill for a year is
$3,000. Maybe yours is about
that much. Or maybe it is only
$2,880 -- that's $l2O less. The
difference is in the North
Carolina food sales tax.
Pre registration For Fall
All students planning to
attend the Fall term of the
1975-76 academic year are
urged to preregister and
thereby simplify their Fall
registration. Preregistration
materials will be placed in the
mailboxes of students who
have applied for readmission.
Ample time should be used to
facilitate a sound preregistra
tion. Preregistration materials
may be submitted to the
Registrar's office any day
following the beginning date
for the student's class through
Monday, April 21.
*Eligibility to preregister is
limited to students who have:
(1) Applied for readmission
and paid their SIOO registra
tion deposit. (2) A satisfactory
Business Office account. (3)
Cleared all library fines.
Provisional Grades - Out
standing grades of XB, XC,
XF cannot be upgraded after a
student graduates. The letter
mark to the right of X is
permanently recorded upon
the student's graduation.
Student Transcripts - In
accord with the Family
Educational Rights and Pri
vacy Act of 1974, we must
have a student's written
permission for us to release a
transcript. Written requests to
the Registrar will be process
ed at least once each week.
Telephone calls or requests
through other offices will
delay processing.
A bill to repeal the food
sales tax is in Raleigh now,
but the legislators aren't
moving. They won't, until we
start needling them. If you act
now, it could mean $l2O extra
for you every year when you
are struggling along with
$6,000 and a family. That $l2O
could buy the dental treatment
your kids so desperately need.
Why repeal the food tax?
Because it burdens lower
income people heavily while
barely touching the rich -- in
economists' words, it is
"regressive". With your
$6,000 income, if you spend
$3,000 (half of your income) on
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Registrar Floyd Reynolds
Preregistration for Seme
ster I 1975-76 Hours: 8:30
A.M. - 12 Noon and 1:00 P.M.
- 4:30 P.M.
Rising Seniors: Mon. & Tues.
April 14-15
Rising Juniors: Wed. &
Thurs., April 16-17
All Other Students: Fri.
April 18 and Mon. April 21
6iMMbM r N.C. 27410
food (which is taxed 4%), you
are being taxed on 50% of
your income. Meanwhile, the
Welloff family, with a comfy
income of SIOO,OOO and a
grocery bill of $5,000 (they
love steak), is only taxed on
5% of their income! This is
especially perverse when you
consider this fact: A dollar
taken from you may deprive
your child of a nutritious meal,
while a dollar taken from the
Welloffs only means that they
won't buy that lovely brass
door-knocker for their moun
tain resort home. They have a
greater ability to pay the tax
than you do, so why aren't
they paying it? Because the
food tax doesn't ask if you can
afford to pay; it always hits the
poor hardest.
Senator McNeill Smith has
proposed that North Carolina
abolish the regressive food
sales tax and replace that
revenue by increasing the
N.C. income tax on very high
net incomes by 3%. This way.
revenue would be collected
from the people who can
better afford to part with the
money. North Carolina's
over-all tax structure would
still be regressive, but not
quite as regressive.
Sharing World Resources
The Social Concerns Com
mittee of Friendship Meeting
is urging participation in the
Right Sharing of World
Resources, of the Friends
World Committee. R.S.W.R.,
established by the 1967 World
Conference of Friends, serves
as a channel for contributions
for projects in developing
countries. The aim is for
long-range improvement in
the quality of life for the
world's poor through econo
mic, social, and human
development.
Samples of projects include:
loans to rural Latin American
craftsmen; resettlement of
Sahara drought victims; com
munity education in farming,
health, and family planning in
india; community leadership
What are your chances of eating this well? 4% N.C. food sales
tax hits hardest those who can least afford it.
97% of
the citizens of N.C. will save
money if this tax reform is
passed. And if you are like the
Welloffs (who are part of (hat
3% whose income taxes would
be raised), you can recover
most of what you lost to higher
N.C. taxes by taking it off of
your Federal income tax!
training in the Dominican
Republic; Friends College in
Kenya; a Rhodesian interra
cial community; maternal -
child health care centers in
Belize; and a Zambian project
of self-help housing.
For more information call
Marilyn Neuhauser at 294-
0477.
The editorships of the
Guilfordian, the Quaker, and
the Piper are open for next
year. If interested (the
positions are paid), one should
apply to Herb Poole in the
library by Wed., April 16.
There is also a need for willing
workers to staff all three
organizations on a volunteer
basis.
April 8, 1975
The legislators are letting
this vital issue slip by because
the people don't know enough
about it to demand some
action. But you know about it,
and you can write one of the
Representatives listed below,
at the N.C. LEGISLATIVE
BUILDING, RALEIGH, N.C.
27511. Probe him: what is he
doing to repeal the tax?
Express your support for
McNeill Smith's enlightened
proposal. Tell him that North
Carolina is labeling itself a
"backward" state by clinging
to such a regressive tax.'
This could mean alot to you
once you get out into the big
bad world where you have to
buy your own groceries. For a
of $l2O every year,
this will be a well-spent
10-cent stamp!
Write one or more of these
Representatives:
Henry E. Frye
Thomas Gilmore
C.W. Phillips
Thomas B. Sawyer
Charlie Webb
Marcus Short
Leo Herr