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Tax cut
What it might mean to you
By DON PHILLIPS
WASHINGTON (UPI) - The
Senate early today voted to
give Americans and business
the biggest tax cut in history—
— billion.
In the same breath, it
enacted a $3.8 billion corporate
tax increase, almost all of it for
oil companies. The net result —
if the bill becomes law —would
be a $29.3 billion reduction in
taxation to stimulate the
economy.
The bill goes Monday to a
House-Senate conference where
differences will be ironed out
between it and a $19.9 tax cut
bill passed by the House.
Congressional leaders hope to
House, senate try again
on Georgia budget bill
By KAY BROWN
ATLANTA (UPI) - House
and Senate conferees meet
again today for another try at
reconciling their differences on
Georgia’s $1.9 billion state
spending bill for next fiscal
year so the 1975 General
Assembly can adjourn on
Tuesday.
Gov. George Busbee, mediat
ing House and Senate differ
ences over spending priorities
in the budget, said Friday a
settlement must be reached by
tonight if the twice-extended
1975 session is to end as
planned Tuesday.
“They’ll have to be through
—the conference committee in
greement —in order to have
the bill printed for Monday, or
we’ll have to have a one-or
more-day recess,” said Busbee.
House Appropriations Chair
man Joe Frank Harris, D-
“Folks who are always
neutral never offend anyone —
and never please anyone.”
■hi H ■
IKWIO MMMMkj ■»u i
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-Flghtlng to protect his
investment (1), Jonathan Seth Leibowitz, six, had his hand
caught in the bubble gum machine at a shopping center
get a final bill to President
Ford for signature by Wednes
day.
Then Americans might begin
getting rebate checks on their
1974 income taxes —sl2o to $240
in the Senate version —
beginning in mid-May.
Weary senators passed their
bill by a vote of 60 to 29 at
about 1:40 a.m. today after
nearly 18 hours of debate, much
of it on special interest
amendments.
The bill provides a SIOO
payment to all Social Security
recipients and yearly payments
of up to S4OO for the working
poor with children.
It includes $9.7 billion in
DAILY
Vol. 103 No. 69
Cartersville, said “no substan
tial progress” has been made
in resolving the question of how
much money to allot for
property tax relief, a major
point of contention between the
House and Senate.
The full House and Senate
agreed to recess at 8 p.m.
Friday night until 10 a.m.
Monday morning, indicating
they hoped to finish up as
scheduled on Tuesday. This left
the six-member conference
committee free to press on with
the budget compromise talks
this weekend.
House Speaker Tom Murphy
said, however, that the lack of
progress on major differences
in the budget led him to think
the session might be extended
beyond that date.
Busbee met more than an
hour with Lieutenant Governor
Zell Miller and the three Senate
conferees working on the
Georgia
ATLANTA (UPI) - Georgia
senators passed two tax meas
ures Friday and sent one of
them to Gov. George Busbee
for signing, despite a warning
from a veteran senator that
imposing new taxes “smells
bad” and would come back to
haunt them.
Protecting his investment
rebates to individuals for 1974
income taxes —those due in
April —and another sl6 billion
in cuts in 1975 income taxes,
meaning a reduction in taxes
being withheld now. There are
$7.4 billion in business tax cuts
and incentives.
The bill would accomplish a
deacades-old dream of tax
reformers —repeal of the 22 per
cent oil depletion allowance for
major oil companies, leaving it
in effect for 10,000 independent
companies. The House bill
would repeal it for all.
Some of the special interest
amendments added by the
Senate are expected to be
dropped in conference. The
GRIFFIN
Griffin, Ga., 30223, Saturday Afternoon, March 22, 1975
budget differences. Asked later
if he thought agreement could
be reached by tonight, the
governor said, “I frankly don’t
know—l’m hopeful that they
can do it.”
The major obstacle to com
promising the House and
Senate versions of the budget
was a $5 million gap in funding
of property tax reductions. The
House put up $35 million for the
tax cut, but the Senate voted
only S3O million.
The Senate used the other $5
million for several other
programs, including 8 per cent
teacher pay raises rather than
the 7 per cent funded by the
House, and increases in mental
retardation, state employe and
State Patrol spending.
Busbee said he was not trying
to settle budget issues behind
closed doors. He said he met
separately with the House and
senate okays two tax bills
The vote for passage on the 1
per cent sales tax bill and the 3
per cent local option tax on
hotel and motel rooms was 38-
17.
The sales tax bill, which was
sent back to the House for
concurrence in Senate amend
ments, would require a local
here. Police emergency squad has to take the machine
apart to extricate the youngster’s hand. (UPI)
Senate put in amendments to
allow almost unlimited tax
deductions for child care
expenses of working parents, to
extend unemployment benefits
by 13 weeks, and to provide tax
credits for home insulation and
solar energy devices.
The senators also voted 50-46
for a SSOO million tax break for
failing companies such as
Chrysler, but rejected 70-24
similar breaks for Lockheed
and Pan American World
Airways.
White House Press Secretary
Ron Nessen said Friday the
President “is generally opposed
continued on page 3
NEWS
Senate conferees to explain to
them his own priorities and try
to seek a common ground for
compromise, but that he was
not twisting any arms on
specific programs.
“I don’t think that they have
gone through enough of giving
and taking,” said Busbee.
“Both sides, up to this point of
course, want to stick to then
positions. ”
The 45-day session of this
year’s General Assembly start
ed Jan. 13 and was to have
ended March 14, with the
normally scheduled two-week
recess for budget work in the
first half of February. Prob
lems arose on several fronts
two weeks ago, and a three-day
recess was ordered; then, the
lawmakers got bogged down
again last week and recessed
four more days —shoving the
final adjournment time up to
next Tuesday.
referendum for approval in
cities and counties wanting the
added revenue.
If the House goes along and
Gov. George Busbee signs it —
which he has pledged to do —
the sales tax would activate a
local 1 per cent income tax
approved last year, and the
PROPOSED INCOME TAX REBATE
1974 HOUSE SENATE
INCOME BILL BILL
/■> ®X
IM I $ 5,000 S9B S9B
tnW $12,500 $126 ....slsl
V ’V $15,000 $l7O ....$204
$20,000 S2OO ....$240
M over $30,000 $100.... $l2O
Daily Since 1872
Tornado hurts
17 in Tennessee
JACKSON, Tenn. (UPI) - At
least 17 persons were injured
early today when a tornado
slammed through a mobile
home park in this West
Tennessee city.
No fatalities were reported.
Officials at the Jackson-
Madison County General Hospi
tal said five persons were
admitted with injuries received
in the storm, which hit at 4:45
a.m., and 12 others were
treated and released.
Only one man, Henry Ducks,
age unknown, appeared to be
seriously injured, a hospital
spokesman said. Ducks was
admitted to the intensive care
unit with multiple injuries, but
cities and counties could choose
which tax they wanted, if
either.
Each would require a local
referendum, and no county
could have both the income and
sales tax.
The senators sent the local
option tax on hotel and motel
rooms to Busbee, who has
promised to sign it. Unlike the
sales tax, the hotel tax does not
require a local referendum or a
property tax rollback in propor
tion to the new revenue it
generates for a local govern
ment.
County commissions could
levy a lower tax on rooms, but
could not exceed 3 per cent.
“Don’t hand me this referen
dum stuff and say it makes this
bill smell bad,” Sen. Culver
Kidd, D-Milledgeville, said of
the sales tax plan. “This bill
smells bad upside down, over,
under, or any way you want to
look at it.”
Kidd reminded the senators,
“when you were running last
year, the majority of you said
you were not going to vote to
increase taxes.
“If this is not coming in
through the back door, I don’t
know what is. You’re not
kidding anybody —your con
science will bother you tonight.
You won’t be able to sleep.
You’ll wake up and ask
yourself, ‘What did I do, and
why did I do it?”’
The sales tax, which would
jump from 3 per cent to 4 per
cent in all but Fulton and
DeKalb counties, would require
a rollback in property taxes in
proportion to the revenue a
county receives through its
local sales levy. The Senate
voted to require just a one-year
rollback, rather than making it
permanent, as the House
provided.
The sales tax would go to 5
per cent in Fulton and DeKalb
Weather
rCLOUDY
ESTIMATED HIGH TODAY
74, low today 45, high yesterday
79, low yesterday 45, high
tomorrow in mid 70s, low
tonight in low 50s. Sunrise
tomorrow 7:44, sunset
tomorrow 7:46.
was reported in fair condition.
Police Chief Harvey Marcom
said the tornado touched down
in the center of Sadler’s Mobile
Home Park on U.S. 70 near
Jackson State Community Col
lege.
The damage was confined to
the trailer park, the chief said,
with 18 mobile homes destroyed
and 10 others damaged.
“It really twisted them up
tore them all to pieces,”
Marcum said. “They were a
lucky bunch of people.
“If you could see that twisted
mess out there, you’d under
stand,” he added.
counties where a local 1 per
cent levy is applied for mass
transportation.
The Senate also changed the
house bill to let the tax apply to
prescription drugs. The House
had exempted the drugs.
“This is local option in its
truest sense,” said Sen. Terrell
Starr, D-Forest Park. “Most
counties will never attempt to
call the referendum, and most
cities will never call it.”
The bill provides that if a city
asks its county commissioners
to call a sales tax referendum,
and the county does not do so
in 90 days, the city can have a
referendum of its own at the
municipal level. If the county
later added its own sales tax,
the revenue would be kept
separate from collections in the
city.
If voters rejected the sales
tax, no new referendum could
be called for two years.
Man sought
in shooting
Spalding Sheriff’s officials
today were looking for a man
identified as Dorsey Milton
Register who has been accused
of shooting another person
yesterday. •
Sheriff Dwayne Gilbert said
the Rev. Joe Chambers took a
warrant for Register, charging
him with aggravated assault.
Jerry Chambers was shot twice
in the leg yesterday while he sat
on the porch of a home on
Dobbins Mill road. The age and
address of Chambers as well as
Register were not available this
morning.
I ... ’ I
Griffin Bears
I ,
in Jamboree
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See Page 8
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V? M T*, ' f 'O' % ' / > ,
Slump or not —
students gather
on Fla, beaches
By JOE JULIANO
United Press International
Recession or not, the spring
invasion of college students to
Florida’s east coast resorts is
underway and police say they
are coming by the thousands in
cars, buses, planes, vans,
campers and with thumbs
extended toward anyone who
will give them a lift.
“Yep, we’re ready,” Fort
Lauderdale Police spokesman
Tom Brophy said. “We’ve got
our special substation at the
beach set up, along with the
special detail to work the
area.”
The movie “Where the Boys
Are” popularized Fort Lauder
dale as the “in” place to be in
the spring for the collegiate
crowd in the 19605, but in
recent years the crowds have
dropped off considerably. Now
Daytona Beach is drawing the
largest crowds, and in the last
few years the Florida Keys and
the Bahamas started feeling the
crunch.
East coast resort officials had
privately predicted the tight
economy might diminish this
year’s invasion of collegians. It
hasn’t so far and one Daytona
Beach motel owner observed:
“If you look around here, you’d
never guess there was a
recession.”
Police in Fort Lauderdale,
Daytona Beach, and Key West
have well-prepared plans to
cope with the annual invasion
of northern college students
eager to soak up the sun, beer
and eyeball the newest beach
fashion —the string bikini.
In most resort area police
departments, shifts have been
extended, vacations have been
cancelled, special substations
or command posts have been
established close to the beaches
and special details —usually
manned by younger officers —
have been assigned to potential
trouble spots.
Brophy said after the movie
“Where the Boys Are” was
‘released in 1962, “we had the
biggest crowds we’ve ever had
here for an Easter week. The
kids thought this was Utopia —
no laws, no nothing —but found
out it wasn’t that way.
“The arrests are way down
now, and so far this year the
kids are behaving beautifully.”
Brophy said Fort Lauderdale
Sheriff’s office
in crime network
The Spalding County Sheriff’s
office today was a part of a
nation wide crime information
network.
The system became
operational in the sheriff’s
office yesterday.
The new equipment puts the
sheriff’s office in touch with the
has averaged about 20-30,000
college vacationers all month
because of mid-year vacations.
“We’ve been running like a
swinging door —lO in, 10 out.
Since Easter comes so early
this year, we’ll probably have
all these plus those with
regular Easter vacations —
about 40,000 at its peak.”
At Daytona Beach, one
observer said Friday the
beaches “were pretty packed
already, and this is supposedly
the lull week.” Police predict
the number of students coming
in and out during the week at
Daytona and the 22 miles of
beach outside of the resort in
Volusia County will be about
250,000.
Lt. Joseph Muffoletto of the
Daytona police said staggering
mid-semester and between
quarter vacations makes it
difficult to estimate the college
crowd, but added the depart
ment was assured by hotel
owners that the big influx was
to start Saturday.
“We started keeping track of
it at the end of the motorcycle
races here —that was two
weeks ago Sunday,” Muffoletto
said. “Right now, (Friday), I’d
say we had about 100,000 here.”
At Sebring, where the annual
12 hour sports car endurance
race was held, a good
percentage of the crowd was
made up of college students
camping out for the weekend.
Many of them were then
believed to be heading north to
Daytona or south to Fort
Lauderdale for the holiday.
Muffoletto said arrests were
up in 1974 over 1973, but Brophy
said students down his way
seemed to be better behaved.
“In 1973, we had 361 arrests
of college students, but last
year we had 490,” Muffoletto
said. “Nearly all the arrests
were for narcotics, drunkeness
and disorderly conduct.”
Brophy said it seemed
students in Fort Lauderdale are
“realizing they don’t have to
act rowdy to have fun.” Most
arrests, he said, are of
violations of a city ordinance
prohibiting open consumption of
alcoholic beverages.
“We have young officers
down there (at the beach) and
they keep a low nrofile ”
Brophy said.
Georgia Crime Information
Center and the National Crime
Information Center.
Officers in the sheriff’s office
were instructed on how the
network operates. They expect
to master its operation com
pletely in a few days.