daily nebraskan
thursday, november 16, 1978 vol. 102 no. 47
Equalization board raises income tax to 18 percent
By Denice Smee
The Nebraska State Board of Equaliza
tion voted Wednesday to increase the state
income tax from 16 percent to 18 percent
effective Jan. 1. The state sales tax will
remain at three percent.
An alternative motion made by State
Tax Commissioner William Peters would
have raised income tax rates to 17 percent.
State Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh testi
fied against Peters' motion, saying it was
based only on projections by the tax com
missioner's office of reserves until June 10
1979.
He said a rate of 17 percent would re
sult in a $17 to $18 million loss in reve
nues in the next fiscal year.
This is because the projection of ap
proximately $23 million in reserve June
30, 1979 does not consider the 113
changes made by the Federal Revenue Act
which restructured the federal income tax
rates and, in effect, decreased federal taxes,
he said.
Since the Nebraska tax rate is a percen
tage of the federal tax rate, when the fed
eral taxes are decreased, Nebraska's total
revenue decreases, DeCamp said.
During the rest of the fiscal year the
Federal Revenue Act would decrease Ne
braska treasury receipts by $5 to $8
million if the tax rates remained the same.
But during fiscal year 1979-80, it would
decrease receipts by $17 to $20 million.
Two solutions
There are two possible solutions to the
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
The State Board of Equalization meets to discuss state income tax rate changes.
problem created for Nebraska by the
Federal Revenue Act, DeCamp said.
These are: (1) face the bills the state
now owes, the costs of future programs
and the amount of revenue which will ac
tually be coming in, and raise the tax rates
accordingly; or, (2) cut spending.
"I personally would like to see the ex-
penditures cut," DeCamp said.
DeCamp mentioned other problems
with having only a 17 percent rate.
A 1 7 percent rate does not consider pos
sible deficit appropriations which the
Legislature may make in the next session,
he said.
For example, the State Department of
Welfare will present deficiency reports
Wednesday stating that their budget will be
$3 to $4 million short of their needs.
Governor J. James Exon answered De
Camp's question on the accuracy of the
projection saying "revenue projections are
an inexact science," and in the past the
projections made by the tax commissioner
have been reasonably accurate.
"I for one am one member of this board
who will not increase revenues one penny
over what is needed," he continued.
"Whenever there is extra money around,
the Nebraska Legislature finds ways to
spend it."
Automatic reserves
Concerning possible deficit appropria
tions, Peters said the projections were
based on 100 percent expenditures, but, in
the past, actual expenditures have only
been 96.5 percent on the average for the
last five years.
Exon explained this meant the 17 per
cent rate had "additional reserves auto
matically built in."
Peters and Exon voted for this motion,
and Secretary of State Allen Beermann,
State Treasurer Frank Marsh and State Au
ditor Ray A.C. Johnson voted
Beermann proposed the 18 percent rate
because it would answer the needs of the
entire year and not just those in the re
mainder of the fiscal year.
Beermann also said the possibility for a
recession in the third quarter of the fiscal
year should be considered in the board's
decision.
Peters said this motion would take $40
million from the taxpayers to cover a pos
sible $22 million difference made by the
Federal Revenue Act.
This is "more than an adequate cover,"
Beermann said.
UPC autonomy debated
By Shelley Smith
The Union Program Council's appeal to
make it an independent governing body re
sulted in a heated debate at Wednesday
night's ASUN meeting.
Ron Dahlke, spokesman for UPC, said
that UPC wants to be independent of the
Union Board to best serve student inter
ests. He said that in the past, UPC has been
heavily monitored by the Union Board in
choosing several speakers.
UPC proposes, he explained, a profes
sional advisory staff which would act as a
resource and would keep continuity in
programs through the years.
He said that UPC members would
undergo training to learn programming
method expertise and use their advisors to
facilitate inter-University communication.
inside thursday
Old bones at rest: Morrill Hall dis
plays only a few of the old fossils
page 3
Cup of mud: It's the beans that
make the brew page 13
Two years in a row: Missouri Coach
Warren Powers hopes to upset his
old school again page 14
A letter to Mark Knoble, Union Board
president, from Vice Chancellor Richard
Armstrong asked the Union Board to
modify its by-laws eliminating responsibil
ity for programming.
At the Union Board meeting, also held
Wednesday night, Knobel responded, "At
the present time, it's the feelings of UPC
that we don't hold anything over their
heads."
Jim Davidson, a member of UPC, told
ASUN that he felt UPC and CAP must have
a great deal of contact with each other in
order to provide the best services possible
to the students.
Charges corrected
The charges against 15 UNL students
were incorrectly reported in Wednesday's
Daily Nebraskan. Michael Zeis was charged
with disturbing the peace and Mike Phillips
was charged with resisting and abusing an
officer.
Charged with disturbing the peace were:
Curt Brown, Ronald Kobler, Richard Pal
zek. Jeff Sharp, Richard Hergenrader,
James Meyer, Wade Morris, Mathew Bas
sett, John Gilmore, Samuel Segnar, and
Douglas Brooks.
Andrew Peterson was charged with dis
turbing the peace and interfering with the
duties of a police officer, and Craig Meier
henry was charged with interfering with
the duties of an officer.
The Daily Nebraskan regrets the errors.
If
Photo by Mark Billingstey
Tooting his horn, Dave Walsh, 9, gets a few practice notes in while he waits for
mom.