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Do Politicians Understand?

opinion

Tax Revolt Widespread

Brlievt it or no*. tho lioatlos once recorded a song about supply aide economicsi.' It.was made back in 1%6 and it was called "Taxman *' We invite one and all to listen to the first cut on the Beatles’ classic album. "Revolver ’’ Years before Art Laffer drew his famous and much ridiculed curve and before Howard Jams created the tax revolt with Proposition .13, the Beatles created a nightmarish vision of a tax system run amuck. Most politicians stHl can’t fully believe the tax revolt is for real Recently, for instance, we came across the com ments of former President Jerry Ford, who was meeting in Vail. Colo . with some other former heads of state, including Helmut Schmidt and James Callaghan, two men who rode the forward wave of Europe’s tax re volt right out of office. . * • \ PRESIDENT REACA VS economic policies were much on the former leaders' minds, and Mr. Ford suggested deferring indexation of income taxes — the centerpiece of Mr Reagan's supply side program That would allow what inflation now exists to produce some tax revenue to fi'ed the congressional budget monster That would crank a lot of people just a bit higher in the tax brackets. Mr Ford, and the legions of politicians ond^economists w ho share his view, presumably believe that these further depredations hy the taxman somehow wouldn't enter peo pie’s minds when they walked into the voting booths Congress returns after an August of soul sessions back home with mayors and governors who are learning to live w ith the tax revolt, but we fully .expect the Washington air to fiH with rantings and ravings about interest rates pnd the deficit, with nary a word about still burdensome levels of personal taxation The hard truth is that anti-tax sentiment is still alive, widespread and explainable, as a couple of recent reports make clear ' THE ADVISORY Commission on Intergovernmental Relations h.1s just released a poll of people's attitudes bn taxes The poll‘shows-that if you think increasing inlookin' And listenin' «. #*••• • •• #• Praying Mantis 0 • . • • * * 1 • 4 » Small Hunter By DOROTHY !>. FREAS • Listening to a couple of admits who. were audibly c^msidej’ing fstep on it" as a way of jltsposing of the sect on-' the it was necessary y the object of c. and so keep it recognize a ' Uis as he was , ' named for hm usual positionfolding his front legs ^ as if in prayer • • . fo , Those legs are edged with tiny spikes. The mantis relaxes* hut watches for an insect to wander near him. One quick movement and the insect is caught. Many insects, harmful to farmer and gardener, become "dinner" for our hunter The life cycle of* the Mantis is as interesting as the fact that they are the only insects thaf can turn their heads to look over their own shoulders 1 IN THE FALL, the eggs are laid in odd-shaped masses of froth w hich dry. but a bit of trapped air in each tiny hub* hie protects the egg from freezing temperatures Each case holds hundreds of eggs and in late spring, tiny hahiesalxmt mosquito size, hatch, eat heartily, and by late sum mcr they are four to five inches long They are such beneficial hunter* of garden pests. never allow anyone to destroy one. . It v» »u soea live Mantis, watch it fora while. You’ll see it

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dividual income taxes is a good idea, only 24 percent of the people agree with you You want to come out for higher property taxes? Go get ’em tiger — 19 percent are foursquare behind you, and 12 percent will march to the polls in favor of higher local income taxte. - The poll found that if people had to support some sort of tax it would be a sales tax, most probably, the commission thinks, because it lets people choose between taxable con--sumption and saving their money. IFs heartening to see the commission discuss the ancient savings ritual, which was pretty much pushed into extinction as 'Jimmy Carter’s inflation siphoned off individuals’ pre-tax income so that Congress could spend It. Indeed, the Census Bureau has just hung some numbers on the political spending machine: Taxes in 1980 (federal, .state, Social Security and property) consumed about 23 percent of the average household income, up from 20 percent in 1974. Over those years, average household income dropped 7 percent, after adjusting for taxes and inflation. There now seems to exist an effective political limit on how much taxation a government can impose on free people before being turned out of office. Most people understand this. The political establishment, alas, does not. — Waif Street Journal Charge by Volume

According To Our Tax Return, Emma We Can t Afford Our Income ”

Recycling Needs Boost

By DAVID F. MOORE Executive Director , New Jersey Conservation Foundation It's been 40 or more years since New Jersey became ortc of the first stales to outlaw the traditional garbage dump and demand that solid waste go to a "sanitary landfill." so that it would be covered over with earth and not left to rot In the sunshine. That was a great forward step in its day, and the landfill went unchanged until only about a decade ago^when the still-ir\fhnt state pepartment of Environmental Protection (DEPi began to formulate tighter regulations about where landfills should be put, what could be deposited therein and when they should be closed The DEP pioneered with those regulations, just as an earlier generation pioneered with the landfill concept. The trouble is. DEP could control new landfills, and it could dictate that old ones close when they reached a DEPordained capacity, but it could do nothing about controlling the locations of those which existed in pre-DEP days. THAT CATEGORY covers practically every landfill in New Jersey, and just about all of them would fail to meet DEP criteria, locationwise, if they were proposed today. Most arc in the wrong places in terms of polluting surface and undengrVnind waters with leachate, for example. AH

will have to be closed sooner or later. Meanwhile, the public is so justifiably upset about pollution (which to one degree or another we all allowed to hap pen before society got wise to what it was doing) that DEP is finding it impossible to find places for more landfills. Yet we produce more solid waste than ever, and if has to go someplace. What we’ve got to do is reduce the volume of solid waste destined for landfills, either by salvaging recyclables from our waste stream or burning the waste to recover energy. In either case, a residue will still have to be landfilled. ASIDE FROM saving precious resources and vast amounts of energy which are used to fabricate goods from virgin materials, recycling obviously spells less material for landfilling. And New Jersey has one of the country’s best state recycling plark, and a law which monetarily rewards recyclers and t<Avns which promote recycling seems to be working. Buttecycling needs more of a boost. This calls for changes in the way we do our garbage business. Right now, the householder who reduces his or her waste volume by recycling can look next door and see the neighbor putting out many times as much waste. Yet both pay the same disposal bill, whether they hire a _ (From Page 63)

The Grass Is Always Greener

Beware Wild Irish (Rose)

By JOE ZELNIK When n nurse placed a thermometer in my father’s mouth last week, it was the first time he had ever had his temperature taken. He’s 78. The cemeteries in Gowanda, New York, have many tombstones dated 1918, year of a nationwide flu epidemic Three children died within 24 hours in the house where my father, too, was a child. He never even got a headache. Now he was being admitted to a hospital for his first "vacation" since 1940. "Disgustingly healthy, aren't you?'.’ cracked the nurse taking his medical history, as he replied "no" to every previous disease. "DO YOU DRINK?" she asked. "No." he said Whether prompted by an uncertain tone in his voice, or the fact that I fell off my chair, she repeated the question He glanced .it ine. "Well, a little." he said. "What'’' the old Imldy persisted. > "A little beer,' he said. He thought. "And whiskey." be added. He thought some,more. "And a little wine," he concluded ’ . I reflected that I would have to introduce him to Tequila someday. "I thought she meant did ! drink too much." he explained to me later. MY DAD FREQUENTLY had a glass of Wild Irish Rose at lunch time It’s red, probably started as grapes, and claims to be wine. But wine is usually about 12 percent alcohol Wild Irish tfose is 20 percent. A friend of mine once used Wild Irish Rose to hypo her spaghetti sauce She kept sipping if while she made the sauce Wo hover did eat that night. Normally reticent, my dad asked the nurse if she "had a minute?" She did. He told his All-Bran story. Constipated as a child, he has eaten All-Bran every morning for probably 50 years. And it works wonders Amazed, he tells that to everyone I figure. Kellogg s owes him at least a quarter of a million dollars for lestimonials. My dad is tough and clearly wasn't the least bit concern«h1 about his first surgery But he did explain to mo that <*nr shoulfl always cash a Social Security check immediately upon receiving it because, if you die first, it has to Ik* returned

This was, after all, routine surgery, the doctor said. Routine for him, because he would do three that day. Not so routine for a person never sick a day in his life. TUESDAY MORNING, while the surgeon did his routine, I strolled around a part of my home town where I hadn't walked in years. Through the park where I’d sat on a swing and tried my first (and damned near last) cigarette. Past the corner where I’d waited while an older friend tried to see how far he could go with a girl named Phyllis. A year or two later. I'd try to see how* far I could go. Not very far. Then past the former high school where we had hung a "VOTE 4 ZELNIK" sign from the third-floor homeroom windows. Modesty keeps me from telling you who won senior class president. Finally 1 loaned over a railing and watched a brook trickle past the house where, with my mother often sick. I had Stayed with an aunt and uncle. I and my two cousins, three to a bed. had been lulled to sleep by the gurgle of the water. * As I walked, car horns blew and drivers waved. Too vain to wear my glasses. I waved back to one and all, whoever they were. THAT NIGHT, a lifelong friend and his wife fed me. In the 40s. he and I had stood off imaginary attacking Japs from the second floor of his garage. After dinner we sat on their side porch with a view of roses and hummingbirds. He had stayed with his home town, with one job from which he can retire in five years, with one wife and four children and two dogs and a house with a porch. I left my home town, have had 10 jobs in 30 years, my exwife doesn’t speak to me. most dogs snarl at me, and I’d love to own a porch. We sat there, each foolishly thinking the grass was greener on the other's side of the fence Thursday, my dad already up and around, I took my leave We have never been buggers or kissers. Affection comes in the form of a ten-dollar hill, or a check. But I kissed my dad goodbye. His beard was like sandpaper I remember that feeling from when I was very, very little?.

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