I
News Digest
Page 2 Dally Nebraskan Friday,October 20,2000
Report: Companies save billions in taxes
■Through legal loopholes,
many corporations pay less in
taxes than the tax codes call for.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON - Dozens of
America’s most profitable compa
nies enjoyed tax-free years during
the 1990s largely because of legal
tax breaks, an independent study
released Thursday found.
The report by the nonprofit
Institute on Taxation and
Economic Policy found that 250
companies paid an effective tax
rate of 20.1 percent in 1998, down
from 22.9 percent just two years
earlier. The federal income tax rate
for corporations is supposed to be
35 percent
Of the 250 companies studied,
41 enjoyed at least one year of no
income taxes or an actual rebate
from the federal government,
despite pretax profits of $25.8 bil
lion from 1996-98.
If all 250 companies had paid
die full 35 percent on $735 billion
in pretax profits, the study esti
mated the total income tax would
have come to $257 billion. But tax
breaks put into law by Congress
lowered those companies' tax bills
by $98 billion over the three-year
period
Companies getting tax rebates
in 1998 included Texaco, Chevron,
Pepsico, J.P. Morgan, Enron and
General Motors, the report found
The study’s chief author,
Robert S. McIntyre, said compa
nies lower their taxes through
such breaks as depreciation write
offs, tax credits for research and
development and deductions
they take when employees exer
cise stock options.
“We hope our findings will
encourage lawmakers to re-exam
ine this important area of taxa
tion,” McIntyre said
The report also found that the
petroleum industry paid the low
est tax rate from 1996-98 (12.3 per
cent), followed by electronics (13.1
percent), forest and paper prod
ucts (13.9 percent) and trans
portation (14 percent).
At the other end of the spec
trum, publishing and printing
companies paid 31.6 percent, gas
and electric utilities paid 28.1 per
cent and retail and wholesale
trade companies paid 27.6 per
cent
“Anyone who worries about
our economy's long-term growth
has to wonder why die tax code is
being used to favor some indus
“We hope our findings
will encourage
lawmakers to re
examine this
important area of
taxation
Robert S. McIntyre
study's chief author
tries and some kinds of invest
ments over others, rather than let
ting market forces decide,”
McIntyre said.
Reno: Add
disabled,
gays to bill
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Congress
has a last chance to pass a law this
year extending federal civil rights
protections to homosexuals and
the disabled, Attorney General
Janet Reno said Thursday.
Legislation to expand the
hate-crimes law was dropped
from a compromise spending bill
two weeks ago, despite earlier
votes in both houses supporting
the idea.
“The American people sup
port this effort,” Reno said at her
weekly news conference.
“Congress cannot outlaw hatred,
but it should do all it can to com
bat hate-motivated violence
before going out of session.”
Reno asked Congress to resur
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Janet Reno both houses
U.S. attorney this month,
general Clinton accused
- Republicans of
deliberately ducking it for fear its
provisions covering gays and les
bians might anger the GOFs con
servative core of voters just weeks
before Election Day.
TODAY
Partly cloudy
high 72, low 49
TOMORROW
Partly cloudy
high 71, low 52
SUNDAY
Showers
high 62, low 48
David Silverman/Newsmakers
From the roof of an armored bus damaged in a bomb attack in the Gaza Strip, young Jewish settlers demonstrate outside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's residence earlier
this week in Jerusalem.The bus, which was carrying about 40 settlers in the Gush Qatif region of the Gaza Strip, was under attack by the Palestinians who launched a pipe bomb
against it and riddled the windows with gunfire.
FBI, Yemen cooperate in suspect search
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ADEN, Yemen - Investigators
widened their probe into the
bombing of die USS Cole to Saudi
Arabia and to a far eastern Yemeni
province, Yemeni officials said
Thursday, as rescuers recovered
the final four sets of remains of
sailors killed in the blast
The remains that were
removed from the ship Thursday
will be flown home soon, Navy
officials in Washington said.
Thirteen bodies already had been
flown to the United States.
The recovery of the remains
came as FBI director Louis Freeh
arrived in Yemen, held talks with
President Ali Abdullah Saleh and
toured the U.S. warship, which
was attacked Oct 12 as it arrived
to refuel.
The FBI director told a news
conference that it was far too early
to speculate about who may have
sponsored or may be responsible
for the bombing, which killed 17
sailors and injured 39.
"We are looking at this with an
open mind,” he said.
Saleh, in an interview with
CNN, said "it could be” when
asked if Osama Bin-Laden was
behind the attack on the USS Cole.
He also said it was possible that
"elements from Afghanistan” were
involved.
Freeh would not commit to
that possibility. He said determin
ing exactly who carried out the
attack “will be governed by facts
and forensics,” adding that “we
are far from making even prelimi
nary judgments on this.”
He said the FBI is supporting
Yemen's investigation in a “junior”
role and complimented Yemeni
authorities' work in die case.
Yemeni security officials said
Thursday that a search earlier this
week of an Aden apartment where
bomb-making equipment was
found also yielded documents
they believe originated in
Hadhramaut, an eastern Yemeni
province. A vehicle believed to be
used by the attackers also con
tained documents traced to
Hadhramaut, the officials said on
condition of anonymity.
They said investigators were
dispatched Thursday to
Hadhramaut, seeking more infor
mation to try to identify two men
who used the Aden apartment
and who have not been seen since
the bombing.
Yemeni officials said another
team of investigators was going to
neighboring Saudi Arabia on
Thursday. The officials provided
no information on the leads that
took them there. Many Yemenis
from Hadhramaut have settled in
Saudi Arabia.
Daily Nebraskan
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4 ■*/ - v v
Battle stalls rescue attempt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM - Israeli troops seeking to
rescue stranded settlers on an outing waged
a deadly battle with Palestinian gunmen for
five hours Thursday on a rocky West Bank
hill. The fighting threatened to scuttle a
U.S.-brokered cease-fire after only a day.
One settler bled to death waiting for
army rescuers who could not breach the
heavy gunfire on Mount Ebal overlooking
Nablus, security officials said. A Palestinian
was killed early in the battle.
At least 10 others were wounded - five
settlers and five Palestinians - and army res
cue helicopters succeeded in evacuating
only two settlers. The wounded were in
moderate to serious condition, said settlers
who took cover under continued heavy
gunfire.
Palestinians said the settlers, who were
on an outing under army escort, fired first.
at '»
But an Israeli army spokesman blamed the
Palestinians, saying that the Palestinian
Authority’s failure to order back the gun
men was a “flagrant violation” of this week’s
cease-fire.
"There’s been no attempt by the
Palestinian Authority to stop this firing
against innocent hikers, children, women.
Ihey’re stuck at the moment without food,
without anything,” Col Raanan Gissin told
The Associated Press.
Itoo army attack helicopters hovered
over the scene, and armored personnel car
riers were ready to move in. Settlers called
on the army to unleash the “full power” of
the attack helicopters, an apparent refer
ence to anti-tank missiles.
Gissin said the army was resisting such
calls and allowing the helicopters to fire
only their machine-guns because the gun
battle was taking place next to a refugee
camp.
/
The Associated Press
■ New York City
Who wants to be the winner
of the White House?
Hoping that Regis Philbin’s
million-dollar TV touch would
benefit the Democratic campaign
for the White House, A1 Gore and
Joseph Lieberman separately
appeared on the host's morning
talk show, where Lieberman
earned an ovation by reciting
from memory the complete line
up of the Brooklyn Dodgers of die
1950s.
Gore, whose taped appear
ance will be broadcast Friday,
demonstrated how a farm boy
hypnotizes a chicken, after warn
ing the host: "You’re no spring
chicken.”
Lieberman, a diehard Yankees
fan, appeared live, saying he had a
short-lived Litde League baseball
career. He remembered that, after
hitting a double once, he met a
woman who thanked him for
winning her a dollar - she said
another spectator had wagered a
buck that the young Lieberman
would strike out
■ Russia
No more Mir money
may mean no more mission
MOSCOW - Russian officials
said Thursday that the Mir space
station, an aging symbol of Soviet
space glory, is likely to be discard
ed soon for lack of money.
But officials also said no deci
sion has been made yet, and the
fate of the 14-year-old station was
not even discussed at a meeting of
space experts.
Deputy Prime Minister Ilya
Klebanov, the Cabinet official
responsible for the space pro
gram, reiterated what die govern
ment has said before: It cannot
afford Mir.
“Therefore, we believe that
the station will most likely end its
existence in the first half of next
year,” Klebanov said.
■Vatican City
Pope's resignation rumors
deaied by Vatican officials
An influential European car
dinal has added his voice to spec
ulation swirling for months - that
Pope John Paul n, burdened by
age and illness, may resign.
Cardinal Godfried Danneels
of Belgium suggested John Paul
might step aside next year, now
that he has achieved his dream of
leading the church into the new
millennium.
Mere mention of the issue has
angered the Vatican, which sees
such talk as seeking to weaken the
papacy. Reaction to Danneels’
suggestion was swift
“This is the personal opinion
of Cardinal Danneels, which we
do not confirm,” said a one-line
statement issued Thursday by the
pope's spokesman, Joaquin
Navarro-Valls.
■ New York City
1/4 of youngest voters can't
name presidential candidates
Young people are tuning out
the presidential campaign in such
numbers that they may be the
most disconnected group of
potential voters in the nation’s
history, MTV’s top researcher said
Thursday.
Surveyed a month before the
election, one-quarter of people
ages 18 to 24 couldn't name both
presidential candidates without
prompting, and 70 percent could
n’t identify the vice presidential
candidates.
Only one-third of young peo
ple polled in July said they were
certain to vote in November, MTV
said. That compares with 57 per
cent in July 1992.
■ Washington D.C.
Bangladeshi prime minister's
killers likely to be deported
President Clinton promised
Bangladeshi Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina support Thursday
for an extradition treaty that
could lead to deportation of three
men convicted in Bangladesh of
killing her father, the country’s
first prime minister.
Hasina described Clinton's
response to her on the issue as
“very positive, very positive.”
“Killers shouldn’t get any refuge
from any democratic country,"
Hasina said after a 45-minute
meeting with U.S. officials.
*
