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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1980)
Wednesday, October 15, 1980 daily nebraskan page 5 Continued from Page 4 ance of a fixed amount. The word "person" shall exclude corporations and other artificial persons. The Friedmans support their proposal with the convincing argument that the present progressive income tax system is so full of loopholes that a simpler and less dodgeable proportional income tax would actually return greater revunes to the government. However there are further choices that were allowed for prior to ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, and which may be possible once again if the Sixteenth Amend ment were repealed. Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution as originally written said: "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers. . . Direct taxes included head taxes, poll taxes, and land taxes. Alexander Hamilton, defending the Constitution in the Federalist Papers, goes to some length to argue that the federal government should have the power to tax directly and not just by requisition to the states. He maintains that the Continental Congress failed partly because it did not have that power. But Hamilton qualifies his argument by saying that the federal government may not need to tax individuals directly as long as it holds the power to do so. Good arguments have been made for consumption taxes, value added taxes, and recently for wealth taxes. Lester G. Thurow calls for a system of progressive taxes on all forms of physical wealth. These various forms of raising revenue or redistributing income, if you like, are in fact being used with varying degrees of success in other countries. The difficult question which a government must face when imposing a tax is: will the return from a convenient source of revenue be outweighed in time by its unfairness? The federal government obviously has great coercive power vis a vis the individual. It can usually make him pay up, but it cannot make him work without resorting to the draft or the chain gang. These issues of the proper goal of the tax system and what its objects and methods should be appear to be at the heart of our economic plight. They alone may be cause enough for a constitutional convention, as tar re moved as possible from the election of a particular pres ident. Timothy W. Karstrom Graduate, economics Idler's real message Smiling faces. Sometimes they don't tell the truth. Beware of liberals bearing gifts. Harassment . . . Continued from Page 4 Suppose she initiates the flirtation (or, at any rate, he imagines she is flirting). If he acts on what he thinks is happening, is he guilty of SH? A victim of SH? I have a friend who filed a complaint against her married boss when, according to her testimony, he made sexual advances and persisted, even after she made it per fectly clear that she wanted him to cut it out. Nine days after the complaint was filed, she was fired. After a long battle, in and out of court, she won. The judge awarded her nearly $20,000 in back pay. The boss first claimed complete innocence, then said he and my friend had an affair during which she impor tuned him for a promotion. She filed her grievance, he said, after he broke off the affair because he could no longer afford the motel bills. I'm glad my friend has been vindicated, but I have to admit that the whole episode dees nothing to enhance my understanding of SH. Would it have mattered if the boss had been single? Would it have been SH if she hadn't been fired? Would it have had any relevance if she had become surly, nasty and impossible to work with after the unwanted advances and had been fired on that account? Even if it were possible to reach some general defini tion of sexual harassment, I'd still have problems moving from there to sex discrimination, which, after all, is what the law (Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act) forbids. As I understand discrimination, it involves unequal treatment of people because of their membership in a class, in this case the female sex. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the discrimination consists of making sexual acquiescence a condition of employment, a condition that would not apply to a male similarily situated (assuming, of course, the boss is both male and heterosexual). I still don't understand. If you think you do, let me give you a hypothetical situation: A male supervisor has a staff of 20 subordinates, 10 of them female. He makes passes at four of the women, more or less promising them promotions if they come across. Two of the four tell him to get lost; they are not promot ed. The other two submit, and one of them is promoted. Who are the victims of sexual harassment and sex dis discrimination? The woman who gave in, but nevertheless was left to languish in her same old job? the pair who, but for their steadfast virtue, might have been promoted, even if their professional skills did not warrant it? The six women who were never approached in the first place? The 10 men who, by reason of their sex, were never in the running? And after youVe sorted out the victims, please tell me how you'd make them whole. (c) 1380. Th Washington Post Company Pat Idler's presentation, hosted by the Students for Responsible Energy Decisions began on a distinctly en couraging note. Here is a representative of the State of Nebraska with the message that renewable energy sources are the only viable long-range source of energy. Further more, the decision to adopt renewable energy with fu ture has already been made. Only a fear of being labeled an eco-nut by Nebraska's conservative voters prevents our politicians from releasing the news. However, what I consider to be Idler's real message soon took form. Idler's support for renewable energy does not mean he rejects non-renewable energy. On the con trary, since we have uranium, coal and oil enough to last until 2020, we actually need more plants which use these substances; this will give us a buffer period in which to develop solar power or at least begin to see "the light at the end of the tunnel." An omnious phrase, and one I wouldn't have used, had'. I been Idler. As a Vietnam era veteran, I remember those words all too well. Thousands upon thousands of Ameri can 'lives, and millions of Vietnamese lives were ended after our political leaders first turned that phrase. Now Idler asks us to give our leaders 40 more years to begin to see "light at the end of the tunnel." The same leaders who won't even admit a problem exists until thousands of people gather together to demand that ad mission. Idler asks for more time, as did Presidents Johnson and Nixon with regard to Vietnam. He promises us the battle has been won, as did Johnson and Nixon. He asks us to trust our leaders, as did Nixon and Johnson. Will the deaths from future Three Mile Islands equal the 40,000 plus American deaths in Vietnam after our leaders first asked for more time? Will we ravage the world in search of victory? Other parallels could be drawn, but as a final one, let me ask, will Americans go to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to demand an end to "pollution for profit" as we demanded an end to the Vietnam "war for profit?" Brian Fitzpatrick Senior, Sociology Did your junior or senior check remind you of a needed course you meant to take - but didn't? If so, Independent Study by Correspondence could help you fit that course into your busy final semesters. The UNL Division of Con tinuing Studies offers a wide variety of college credit courses that you work on at your pace and place. Call Mrs. Molly Cunningham at 472-1933 or come to 511 Nebraska Hall. Campus UNL does not discriminate in its academic, admissions or employment programs and abides by all federal regulations pertaining to same. si III? CP Now is the time to go hunting for real values on art and engineering supplies. Our Turkey Table on the second floor is chock-full of bar gains . . . assorted pencils for 15 cents, silk screen supplies, acrylic matte varnish for $1.95, chartpak tapes and Letratapes, Bellini oils, assorted color match sheets, modular color acrylics for 90 cents and more. Strut to the second floor and save now. Engineering & The Turkey Table is bursting with an assortment of values on hardbound books that are slightly damaged, sales man samples and more. Take a look . . . DELTA OF VENUS by Anais Nin for $3.98, A DISTANT MIRROR by Bar bara Tuchman for $7.98, THE BODY IN QUESTION by Jonathon Miller for $7.98, POWERS THAT BE by David Halberstam for $6.98, MY MANY YEARS by Arthur Rubenstein for $7.98, I PASSED THIS WAY by Sylvia Ashton-Warner for $7.98 & more. General i Books J- uapost 1 Office Open Monday-Friday, 8-5:30, Saturday, 9-5:30 We're more than a bookstore 1 2th & R Streets in Lincoln Center 476-01 1 1