Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / June 5, 1986, edition 1 / Page 4
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
J Page A4-The Chronicle, Thursday, June 5, 1986 Winston-Salem Chronicle Founded 1974 KRNIST H. POT, Publisher NDUBISI KOKMONYK ALLIN JOHNSON Co-Founder Executive Editor KLAINS L Pin MICHAKL Pin Office Manager Circulation Manager ? CROSSWINDS 7~" ~ The Packwood proposal ~ From th? Eteffensf PuUllLhcrc ActodrfFrrr ~ " 7 * ?r ? OVER THE past several years, there have been a - number of attempts to develop legislation to create broadly based, fair and revenue-neutral tax reform for the American people. Most of these attempts have called for a ??"level playing field" for consumers and business alike. Now the Senate Finance Committee is considering a measure that would have the exact opposite effect and would tip the playing field even more sharply than it is today. Simply put, Jhej>roposal by Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Ore., the committee, chairman, would not allow businesses to deduct from their income taxes the excise taxes they pay to the government. Currently, the federal government imposes excise taxes on things like gasoline, alcohol, cigarettes, telephone service, airline tickets and manv others. The excise tax is nsnallv inxin/t^ ? *k- -? w ?' mmwrmmmmmaj U1VIUUVU III MAC JJ1 U" duct's price, and consumers pay the tax when they buy the product. The maker of the product acts as a tax collector receiving the tax from consumers and handing it over to the federal treasury. . Pack wood's proposal would tax businesses on the excise taxes they are merely collecting for the government. The senator says this is just an increase in corporate income taxes, and that it won't hurt consumers. But according to, the Citizens for Tax Justice, a labor-sponsored research group, Packwood's proposal would increase excise taxes ' by 50 percent. And those increases would flow straight to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Gasoline prices would rise by 4 or 5 cents per gallon. The tax on distilled spirits would jump from $2.SO to $3.30 ,a fifth. Cigarettes would cost between 9 and 20 cents more I - 'per pack. The 8-percent airline ticket tax wouUIm^Ibc to about 12 percent, and phone service taxes wouktgo ftoiri } to about 5 percent. Other prices would be affected indirectly. Higher excise taxes on the trucking and other shipping industries would increase the prices of virtually everything that is transported on the U.S. highways ? from potatoes to color TVs. Not only would Packwood's proposal increase the prices consumers pay for everyday goods; it would fall disproportionately hard on low-income families because excise taxes take a greater percentage of their income. The Packwood proposal also ignores the effect of higher prices and distribution costs on business and jobs* When the price of a product increases dramatically, sales drop. When sales drop, businesses lay off employees, close plants, work shorter and fewer shifts and generally cut back to make ends meet. The Distilled Spirits Council of thp T T*iitC?r?*?? ? a??j? ? '' - '* .... vimw jvai?, a ir?uc association, estimates tnat 23,000 jobs would be lost and up to 10,000 small businesses would close in that industry alone if the Packwood plan becomes law. Under Packwood's proposal, the consumer loses. Business loses. And the government may not gain as much as it thinks. Higher taxes on products won't bring in much if the products are priced out of the reach of. millions of consumers. Tax reform is serious business. And Packwood's plan is cprirtiidy It should not become law. The NNPA is the national organization of black-newspaper publishers. ARAIIT I BTTBB? bSIIERS The Chronicle welcomes letters from its readers, as well as columns. Letters should be as concise as possible and typed or printed legibly. They also should include the name, address and telephone number of the writer. Columns should follow the same guidelines and will be published if we feel they are of interest to our general readership. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity and grammar. Submit your letters and columns to Chronicle Mailbag, P.O. Box 3154, Winston-Salem, N.C. 27102. \ V ' V t \ ( 1&L 4 4 Reagan's fail HAMILTON, N.Y. -- For five years, tne Keagan administration has followed a policy of 4 'constructive engagement" with the South African government. No divestments from the apartheid state, Reagan has pleaded, because American corporations somehow exert a positive influence on the racist state's economic system. No sanctions, the president has insisted, because quiet persuasion is more effective than direct confrontation. Now the world has seen in grim ?detail the logical consequences of "constructive engagement." South Africa's recent military , commando air and ground raids against Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia were denounced throughout the? world. The Reagan administration was probably not upset about the loss of Africans' lives - it was simply embarrassed that its covert ally in Pretoria had acted too rashly pnd in sucn an overtly ttimmal.own- .iter. ^ *v s-v v>* ^"Consequently* Reagan promptly ordered the expulsion of South Africa's senior military attache from the United States. But the U.S. government simultaneously vetoed efforts at the United Nations to carry out effective sanctions against the apartheid regime. South Africa also embarrassed Reagan when it proudly justified its military maneuvers by pointing to the American bombing of Libya. We have only done what you Americans did in Africa, Blackness: D NEW YORK - "Why don't you stop trying to be black and concentrate on being a human being?" an irate supporter of "The Color Purple" wrote. Frankly, 1 don't know how I could be a good human being unless 1 first become a good black one. After all, I am black. It's that assertion, however that is so upsetting to the majority of blacks and white* in this country. White racists who pass for liberals will encourage a friendship with you, if you abandon any discussion of the pathology of i acism or its odiouseffects on black people. "We're all just people," they insist. The fact that one-third of ail Americans living below the poverty level are black or the fact that 27 percent of black babies die at-birth as compared to only 4 percent of white babies is the result of blacks not getting enough welfare, the liberals conclude. Blacks, they are suggestingi are essentially inferior incapable of self-help, and only the government can save them from themselves. Many, many blacks have internalized this same attitude about the inherent nature of black people. After all, white people run the world and if white people run the world, they must know something or possess some special quality that we lack. In * I # I WX \ vB^BV ^JnBRHy^ TjD >n * t? ?? y___ ling South Afi FROM TH1 ORA8SRO By DR. MANNING MARA South African President P.W. Botha claims. However, this re^nt wamnU of armed, state-directed terrorism has backfired. Even inside the apartheid system, some influential whites are attempting to divorce themselves from their government's desperate actions. The Johannesburg Star termed the raids "irresponsible" and "shortsighted." South Africa's Business Day journal warned that the actions could "weaken the economy, delay the long-awaited revival of business and aggravate employment." Since September 1984, about 1,600 people have been killed in political violence, and growing numbers of white leaders in the private sector are recognizing finally that the only resolution to their crisis is open, political ~ negotiations with the Naj^nai Cop^s ^ /ANini v< iir> i^iuuibic ieprcscn- < tatfve of oppressed blacks. The raids have nearly destroyed the Commonwealth's peace efforts in the region. A team of negotiators was in Capetown when the attacks occurred. Reportedly, the ANC had been urged to use its influence to reduce political demonstrations and strikes. In return, the apartheid regime was to legalize the ANC and to release imprisoned ANC leader Nelson Mandela. But in the wake of these assaults, the ANC has called for a 'on t bother m TONY jROWN Syndicated Columnist order tc get this special something, we must get near it, the logic says. Therefore, if the opportunity arises, live as near whites as M i'-/ C ' ] f. i? ?+*llll!^| t possible, avoid as many blacks in school settings as the law will allow, work in white businesses and avoid black ones and, whenever possible, "marry up" into the so-called white race. These perceived "improvements" are not based on facts demonstrating that whites , - w I " " ! SsT " ica policy OTS BLE massive, national strike on June 16. Oliver Tambo, the highestranking leader of the ANC in exile, has declared: "Let every university and school be emptied of its youth. Let every mine, factory, farm and white home be without labor. Let every shop close its doors. Let every community strike a blow for freedom." What * obligations do we Americans have in this campaign for democracy and black freedom in South Africa? We must organize solidarity marches, demonstrations and vigils on * ?' ? june 10, speaxing out against the criminality and immorality of apartheid. Second, these demonstrations should support efforts by more than 20 congressional Republicans and Democrats to levy more effective file proposed legislation would ' hah any new U.S. investment and ban bank loans to South African businesses. It would halt U.S. firms from engaging in construction, energy-related or engineering contracts with apartheid corporations. And the bill also would ban the importation of South African steel, uranium and coal into the United States. Finally, we must again demand the immediate release of Nelson Please see page A13 e; I can cope make better neighbors (good lawns or cordial friends), provide instruction that makes blacks more efficient in reading, writing and arithmetic, share business opportunities that make blacks richer or make better mates. No, the expectations of whites and the disadvantages of being lil/fi1* ? black are internalized in the psyche. They exist nowhere in fact. To recognize your equality with white, brown and red people is to recognize your humanness as a black person. To do otherwise - to believe that your potential as Please see page A5 CHILDWATCH ' Striking terror in young hearts By MARIAN W. EDELMAN Syndicated Columnist WASHINGTON - At 3 a.m. on Oct. 10, 1985, in a black township near the South African . City of Port Elizabeth, the police came for Lulamile Matoto. According to a recent report from Amnesty International, they dragged Matoto, a 17-yearold black high school student, from his bed and threw him To the ground, the youth alleges. Without allowing the tioyj who is crippled by polio, to fetch his crutches, they forced him to walk unaided and then crawl to a police van. In the van, they beat him with ?a stick. The next day, while holdiqg him at gunpoint, they asked him to identify suspects at the local police station. They released MatOtO a week lat^r ic nnt .. _w?. m av W believed to have been charged ^with any offense. On Aug. 27,~1985rAmnesty international reports, the police took Eugene Dlamini, age 16. j They drove him to the police sta- ; tion, where they suffocated, kick- j ed and punched him until he lost J consciousness, he says. Later, j they again assaulted him, blind folded him, poured water over | him and gave him electric shocks j until he once again losF^con- J sciousness. f On Oct. 15, they released the| boy from prison, announcing a that he would later be tried. The] charge: public violence. I i On Sept. 12, 1985, says! Amnesty International, the police] took Kenneth Fihla. The 18-year-? old boy was boarding a bus to at- * tend a funeral when they rounded' him up, along with the rest of the' group. According to reports from fellow detainees, ttye,poljce beat him and gave him electric shocks'. . ; \ I As ofFebruary 1986, Fihla was't still in detention. These are not isolated cases. Since July 1985, the South African police have detained more than 2,000 children under 1 ? io wunoui trial, according to 4'South Africa: Imprisonment and Ill-Treatment of Children and Young People," a report published in February 1986 by Amnesty International. These children often are assaulted, tortured, held for long periods of time and denied any contact with their parents, the report says. Speaking of his time spent in detention several year* ago, South African attorney Nicholas Haysom has said that nf th* more awful memories I have is of children screaming through the night." Arrest is not the only terror facing the black children of South Africa. In the recent years of unrest, South African police and army units have killed mori than 1,100 people, according td Amnesty International. Th| organization believes that a largj proportion of the blacks shot down by government uniti developed in the townships have been children. 3 In the midst of a wave of concern about terrorism, the Soutji African government continues i^ business as usual: terror directed against its black population, including children. { I We can strike a blow against terrorism by trying to influence American governmental policfy towards South Africa, and ty supporting the leadership of Trans Africa. For ntore information, contact Trans Africa at 5 Eighth Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20003. Marian Wright Edelman i j president of the Children*! Defense Fund, a nation! I voice for youth. ? i
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 5, 1986, edition 1
4
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75