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Page 7
Page 2
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Vol. 91 No. 129
College Station, Texas
‘Serving Tex as A&M since 1893’
3 Pages
Monday, April 13, 1992
brown's tax plan will boost economy, A&M professors say
By Jayme Blaschke
The Battalion
Former California Gov. Jerry Brown's
lat-rate income tax proposal has become
controversial issue in the presidential
campaign, but some Texas A&M
jconomists believe the plan could be a
positive boost for the economy.
Dr. Robert Reed, an A&M economist,
Isaid the flat tax would simplify the tax
{code, eliminating many loop holes.
"The tax would be assessed on every-
lone at a 13 percent rate, and almost all de
ductions would be eliminated," Reed
said. "I think Brown would allow for
some deductions, like home mortgage
payments, but overall there would be
fewer exemptions."
Many economists support the plan be
cause it would lower the overall tax rate
and eliminate the corporate income tax,
which would stimulate business, said Dr.
Morgan Reynolds, an A&M economics
professor.
"The flat tax is very pro-growth,
pro-jobs and pro-production," Reynolds
said.
"This plan would be great for capital
investment, and encourage additional la
bor supply.
"Brown's tax plan is a lot more effec
tive for stimulating business than any
thing the Republicans have come up
with," he said.
One of the major criticisms of the flat
tax is that it would act as a regressive tax,
because poorer people would have less
disposable income after taxes than the
rich, Reynolds said.
That is also a complaint of the
value-added tax, a type of national sales
tax that is a part of Brown's flat-tax pro
posal.
"The tax proposals are mildly regres
sive, depending how you look at them,"
Reynolds said. "The value-added tax
does act as a national sales tax, so in the
short term lower income people will sup
port it more.
"Over a person's lifetime, though, an
individual will spend about 90 percent of
what they earn," he said. "The plan is
only regressive in the short term, in the
long term it evens out."
Despite the immediate economic bene
fits a flat tax offers, Reed said Brown's
motives in promoting the plan are not
completely business-oriented.
"Jerry Brown sees out there a huge
army of tax lawyers and accountants that
produce no social product, but absorb all
these resources," he said. "He finds these
parasites bothersome, and his tax plan
would eliminate this class of non-produc
ers."
Reynolds said tax lawyers would be
the group to suffer the most if Brown's
plan were adopted, and represented the
biggest obstacle to the flat-rate tax.
"The drawbacks (of the flat tax) are
mostly political, because Brown has to go
against the tax lawyers," Reynolds said.
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HUY NGUYEN/The Battalion
Blushing Bride
Lisa McLauglin (left), Class of ‘91, waits to have her bridal System Administration Building. Her friend Deanna Huddleston
pictures taken by a local photo company Sunday morning at the stands nearby to assist the bride-to-be.
Libya to cut
ties to world
Plans to break off outside contacts
24 hours prior to effect of sanctions
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libya
announced Sunday it will sever all
contact with the outside world for
the 24 hours before U.N. sanctions
take effect in a confrontation over
the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
Arab leaders, meanwhile, con
tinued efforts to find a way to
head off the sanctions, which
would include embargoes on arms
sales and commercial air traffic to
Libya.
The official JANA news agency
distributed a statement saying
Libya would cut all international
travel and communication links
Tuesday as a sign of mourning for
a 1986 U.S. air strike that killed 41
Libyans.
The U.N. Security Council has
given Libya until Wednesday, the
sixth anniversary of the air raid, to
surrender two alleged intelligence
agents. The men are charged in the
bombing of a New York-bound
Pan Am jumbo jet in 1988 over
Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270
people.
Libyan leader Moammar Gad-
hafi apparently chose to observe
the air raid anniversary a day ear
ly to avoid the U.N. sanctions
overshadowing his gesture.
The Security Council is de
manding Libya surrender the two
Lockerbie suspects for trial in the
United States or Britain and pro
duce proof it has renounced all
forms of terrorism.
The council also wants Tripoli
to cooperate with France in trying
four other Libyans accused of
killing 171 people in the 1989
bombing of a French airliner over
Niger.
Libya has agreed only to turn
over the Lockerbie suspects to a
neutral country — an offer reject
ed by the West. Gadhafi denies the
men or his government had any
role in the bombing.
Libya's foreign minister,
Ibrahim al-Bishari, met Saturday
with U.N. Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali in Geneva
and said he offered proposals for
ending the standoff. He refused to
provide any details.
After a meeting in Tripoli with
President Hosni Mubarak of
Egypt on Sunday, Gadhafi said
they discussed new proposals to
resolve the dispute. He did not
elaborate.
Agents plan to keep
tabs on Class of '92
By Melody Dunne
The Battalion
If you are a member of the
Class of '92 and you want to tell
your classmates that you got a
job or got married, or even if
you simply want to know
where your five-year reunion
will be, your class agents are the
people to contact.
Kristi Lorson, Vanessa
Matthews and Stephen Ruth
have been elected Class of '92
Class Agents and are excited
about representing their class
mates for the next five years.
Matthews, a political science
major from Atlanta, said the
agents will be responsible for
planning the five-year reunion
and keeping tabs on their class
mates jobs, weddings and ad
dress changes. The agents will
also try to obtain financial aid
for the University during their
term.
Any information the agents
receive from their classmates
will be printed in The Texas Ag
gie, a magazine published
monthly by the Association of
Former Students.
Lorson, a journalism major,
said that she is looking forward
to putting together the Class of
'92 newsletter that will be sent
to classmates about three times
a year.
"I'm honored to have this po
sition," she said. "It will be an
honor to do the best job possible
in everything we do for our
class."
Matthews said she was excit
ed and proud of the Class of '92
because it is an extremely large
class with so many outstanding
members.
"There are a lot of people in
the Class of '92 who really care
about Aggieland," she said.
"It's a special place to them."
Lorson said it has been very
exciting participating in Class of
'92 events this spring.
"Dr. (John) Koldus (vice
president for Student Services)
has supported our class by get
ting us together for many
events," she said. "He's gone
above and beyond to unite the
Class of '92.
"Stephen (Ruth) has been
outstanding as student body
president," Lorson said. "He's
known as the "Howdy Man"
because he says howdy to so
many people."
Stephen Ruth, this year's stu
dent body president, said being
elected class agent shows the
loyalty and faith that his peers
have in him.
"You get other awards, but
when it comes from your peers
is when it really counts," he
said. "I will serve them to the
best of my ability."
The class agents are responsi-
See Class/Page 3
Iranians predict election outcome
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The government
predicted Sunday that backers of President
Hashemi Rafsanjani would win a landslide vic
tory in parliamentary elec
tions, bolstering his drive
to liberalize the economy
and mend ties with the
West.
The early results from
Friday's election appeared
to be a sharp setback for
more radical followers of
the late Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, who have domi
nated the 270-seat parlia
ment, or Majlis.
Iran's official news me-
Rafsanjani
dia said 55 of the 123 candidates who won
enough votes to capture a seat outright were
members of the Society of Combatant Clergy
men, whose leader is Rafsanjani.
The other 68 decided races were in remote
areas and the affiliation of the winners was not
immediately clear.
But the fact that the government-run news
agency was predicting victory early indicated
confidence that the measures Rafsanjani took
before the vote to eliminate as many radical
critics as possible proved successful.
A week before the election, the Council of
Guardians, a 12-man review panel of religious
and civilian legal experts, eliminated one-third
of the 3,000 candidates.
About 13.5 million votes had been counted
in 189 districts as of Sunday, with final results
from all 196 districts expected within two days,
the Islamic Republic News Agency said.
The electorate is estimated at 30 million,
with anyone over 15 in the population of 60
million allowed to vote.
With 10 percent of the potential 3 million
votes counted in the key Tehran area, all but
one of the top 30 vote-winners were members
of Rafsanjani's society.
His most rabid opponents in parliament,
Mehdi Karrubi, the speaker, and Ali Akbar
Mohtashemi, a former interior minister, were
far down the list for deciding candidates for
the runoff election.
Rafsanjani's supporters, pushing pragmatic
government measures, clashed repeatedly in
the previous parliament with radicals intent on
emphasizing religious fervor at home and Is
lamic revolution abroad.
The radicals also wanted extensive state
ownership of business, while the technocrats
argued for a more open economy to deal with
Iran's high inflation and unemployment and
the lack of reconstruction since the 1980-88
war with Iraq.
Pope plans to visit Denver
for 1993 youth conference
NOTICE
DENVER (AP) - Pope John
Paul IF said Sunday he will travel
to Denver for the Roman Catholic
Church's
eighth annual
world youth
day next year,
his first U.S.
trip in six years.
Denver
edged out Buf
falo, N.Y., and
Minneapolis-
St. Paul to play
host to the pa
pal visit, which
will coincide with the weeklong
youth conference in August 1993.
"I have selected the city of Den-
Pope John Paul II
ver, in the noted Rocky Moun
tains, in the state of Colorado,
which has not been included on
the itinerary of my previous apos
tolic trips'' to the United States,
the pope told 30,000 worshippers
at an open-air Palm Sunday Mass
in Vatican City.
Catholics rejoiced as they heard
the news during church services
across Colorado.
"I think it will be a dream come
true,'' said Renee Fajardo of Den
ver.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime experi
ence," said 17-year-old Tara Need-
bone of Northglenn.
See Catholic Church/Page 3
Department opens Spanish classes
to everyone, disregards waiting lists
Because of numerous problems encountered by placing zero
limits on all Spanish 101, 102, 201 and 202 classes taught in the fall
semester, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages has
decided to open these classes to everyone on a “first come, first
serve” basis.
On April 14. all Spanish 101, 102, 201 and 202 classes wifi be
open for telephone registration until the sections are filled. Once
limits are reached, registration will end.
If anyone has already signed his or her name on a waiting list,
he or she still must telephone register to get into the class since all
previous waiting lists will be discarded.
This open registration applies only to the fall semester; ail sum
mer Spanish classes remain restricted to graduating seniors, and
students must come to the modern languages main office in Aca
demic 219 for registration.