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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2000)
Tuesday, August 1J[ Chavez to be re elected in Venezuel; With 84 percent of the voles counted, Venezuela’s Preside-, Hugo Chavez appears to have won re-election. Partial resunj also indicate that his allies^ won 60 percent of the 165 congressional seats. President Hugo Chavez His social revolution encouraged the and terrified realthy. poor 59% Listen to KAMI! 90.9 FM at 1:57 p.m. foi; details on the Bryan Police Department * releasing two suspects' names in weekend shooting. heck out The Battalion online at battalion.tamu.edu. Nightmares & 'netscapes Online books not the end or conventional publishing Page 5 Weather: Partly cloudy with a hiqh of 95 and a low of 73. WEDNESDAY August 2, 2000 Volume 106 ~ Issue 178 6 pages (•MM *1 «i i I«1 wM Vi WIIV Lack of Internet sales tax could lead to losses ;s /ay (Hwy. 30) BOONDOCKS RECREATION/RANCH ★ huntsvilleJ •1 Maureen Kane The Battalion Texas could be in for revenue losses greater han$342 million in 2000 if an Internet sales tax snot imposed at the state and local levels. According to a report by the federal Gener- 1 Accounting Office (GAO), concerns have risen because statesman tax residents' pur- hases from out-of-state vendors, but "they annot impose an obligation on those vendors o collect the tax unless the vendor has a sub- tantial presence in the state." Out-of-state sell- irs meet the substantial presence rule if they lave an office or place of business in the tax- ng state. Since the U.S. Federal Supreme Court tiled that contact with in-state buyers by mail inly does not constitute a substantial presence n the state, the debate over the extent the In- met can be taxed remains unresolved. The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce, established by the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998, issued a report on the study of federal, state, local and internation al taxation of Internet sales to Congress in April. The study provides statistics of pro jected revenue losses in states that do not have an Internet sales tax. "There is so much uncertainty because there are no reliable estimates of Internet sales right now," said Jim White, director of tax pol icy and administration. "We constructed some scenarios; in one of these, the losses are as high as 2 percent of the state and local rev enue. By 2003, under the higher scenario, the potential losses are enough that it might start to matter to state and local governments." According to the study, Texas could lose as much as $342 million in 2000 by not having an Internet sales tax — more than any other state. By 2003, the potential losses increase to be tween $96 million and $1.12 billion. "This is a significant portion of revenue for states and localities," White said. "We built a model to look at different scenarios to give Con gress an idea of what the potential losses might be. Texas was in the top three losses for two rea sons: Texas is a state that relies more heavily on sales tax than other states, and Texas is a large state. They stand to lose a lot potentially if they do not enforce an Internet sales tax." Bill Fox, a professor of economics at the University of Tennessee, said the problem lies with collecting the use tax, a tax imposed on the purchaser for the use, ownership or possession of taxable goods or services. "Sales tax is implemented already—the is sue is with use tax, and whether states can col lect it," Fox said. "Unless a business has a phys ical presence in the state, tax can't be effectively collected, it is not a question of whether the tax is owed; it is a question of whether it can be col lected. There are some challenges to collecting this tax, but I do not know of any taxes that are perfectly controlled. It can be made better by federal government regulation." Fox and other researchers at the Univer sity of Tennessee produced a comprehensive study that projected figures for the potential revenue loss by states without Internet sales tax from 2000 to 2003. He said some results of the study were surprising. "Most people think only about business- to-consumer sales," Fox said. "But 90 percent of e-commerce is business-to-business sales. What was a little surprising was that the business-to-business part is where the par ticularly large revenue losses are to states." The Office of the Texas Comp troller estimates that $50 million in tax revenue is not being col lected because there is no specif ic tax on Internet sales. Mark Sanders, spokesperson for the Texas Comptroller's Of fice, said Texas does have sales and use taxes. "We do not actively enforce this on individuals, but on busi nesses we do. We don't go after individuals because we don't have the resources," Sanders said. The Office of the Comptroller will provide the state legislature with information in January about potential revenue losses for the state. The comptroller will not form an opinion on Internet sales tax until more information is made available by an appointed advisory group. State and Local SA1IS AND USE, TAX LOSSES /AC. INTERNET Low High Scenario ScenaiLOiMn-i Texas — 26 — -342 Arkansas — 2 — -25 C California — 23 - 533 Louisiana— 7 —8*1 i New York — 22 — -asm* Oklahoma — 4 45 Dollars in millions wich expires 08/15/00 is Ave. lopping Center • (er’s) 'I & D $ 3 | Solar Nails < >/white powder ; ire : Reg. ‘35 Students feel SSD does not accommodate Fire alarm Anna Bishop 7 service. kyNexUa ‘fivniiuii }g Aggie Bucks! mmm « nmmm sent coupon er, camber & toe set j pecifications, fer. Expires 01/10/01. ii The Battalion Some mentally ill students, like Ashley Womack, a speech communication major who is registered with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), say SSD is more willing to accommodate students with physical disabilities than those kith mental disabilities. But, David Sweeney, coor- iinator for adaptive technolo gy services at A&M, Said A&M ioes not discriminate against Udents with disabilities. Womack said the SSD Web page has guidelines for faculty hat explains how to address tudents with physical disabil- ties, but the page makes no ref- rence of ways to assist stu- lents with mental illness. “The ADA con tains a great deal of infor mation regard ing equal repre sentation for all handicapped persons/’ — Donna Williams counselor for the SSD CAMPUS xas Ave. 404 tMING d 12, 2000 oupon faction Guaranteed 12th 8 a.m.-6 p.m. I "Visit the SSD Website," — Womack said. "Do you no tice any literature regarding , Mentally ill students who are | protected under the Ameri- | Cans with Disabilities Act 5 (ADA)? The answer is no." r-d A counselor for SSD, Don- I—i f Ha Williams, said the Univer sity aims to help students with all types of disabilities. I "A&M deals with stu dents with learning disabili ties on a case-by-case basis," Williams said. "To say the department dis- minates against students r with this type of learning dis order is far from the case. [The department] works with the students and professors to al low extended time on tests, of tentimes in an atmosphere free from distractions. If anything, A&M bends over backwards to accommodate these students." However, Womack said, when students take tests through the Students with Disabilities Department, the students sit in a room where they hear fax machines, ring ing phones and phone con versations. Williams said the ADA defines equal treatment for all physically or mentally disabled people. "The ADA contains a great deal of information re garding equal representa tion for all handicapped per sons," Williams said. Roganne Thueson, accom modations counselor, said the mental disabilities the de partment encounters range from psychological disorders, such as anxiety disorders and depression, to learning dis abilities, such as dyslexia, at tention deficit and hyperac tivity disorder (ADHD). Physical disabilities, she said, range from cerebral pal sy and quadriplegia to health impairments such as diabetes and chronic fatigue syndrome. Womack said the depart ment's classification of men tally disabled students is a cover the department uses so it can say it helps students with mental disabilities. Womack said the SSD fails to recognize that psychological disorders such as bipolar dis order, require different ac commodations than dyslexia. Williams said the biggest population of mental dis abilities at the University comes from tliose with learning disabilities. "Students make such accu sations (that the department See SSD on Page 4. College Station firemen extinguish burned building supplies at a future auto parts store in College Station. One of the suspected causes of the fire was high temperature. Aggies volunteer weekends, skills DBIA members construct play deck for Texas A&M Children’s Center Kim Trifilio The Battalion Texas A&M students who are mem bers of the student chapter of Design Building Institute of America (DBIA) are spending weekends volunteering their design skills to construct a safe play deck for infants and toddlers at the A&M Children's Center. DBIA's mission is to design and build almost any type of structure for local' schools, churches and other organizations in the Bryan-College Station community. Texas A&M architecture students, including DBIA officers (1 to r) Lucian Nesline, historian; Jathan Floren, secretary; Brent Pilgrim, president; and Bo Steinert, editor, are building a play deck for the Children's Center. Di Fontenot, director of the Chil dren's Center, a facility for children of faculty, staff and students, said the cen ter continually strives to provide a di verse educational environment for chil dren. The center approached DBIA because it needed a place for infants and toddlers to play outside. "The large play deck will give toddlers and infants a controlled, shaded, outdoor place for them to play,' " Fontenot said. "This is to encourage development be cause it will be a sensory area. There will be things for the chil dren to see and touch." Brent Pilgrim, presi dent of DBIA and a con struction science gradu ate student, said the design of the play deck is similar to a child's playpen. W'T A,, 3 "It is a deck concept, r s like a big playpen," Pil grim said. "It consists of wood, but also Plexiglas panels to add color and stimulate their senses." Pilgrim said the or ganization was eager to assist the children's center in designing the new play deck. "We are simply offering our design skills," Pilgrim said. "It is a good op portunity for students to learn more about design and how it can be applied to a variety of real-life situations." Dr. Keith Sylvester, assistant profes sor of construction science, said DBIA faced only one challenge in building the children's structure. "The biggest hurdle for the students is using what they have learned from books and applying it to the real world," Sylvester said. "The students were the ones who generated the design." Sylvester said that, after three weeks, the project is near completion. "The project, in my perspective, is about 75 to 80 percent dbne,"Sylvester said. "We are waiting for the sensory el ements and then the rest of the work will be finished." Pilgrim said DBIA will have more opportunities in the near future to gain design and construction experience. "We have future projects, but noth ing is defined," Pilgrim said. "We just want to be known to day cares, schools and the entire community." Settlement reached in hazing death DALLAS (AP) — The parents of a University of Texas-Austin student who died of alcohol poisoning have reached a $2 million settlement with the Phi Kap pa Sigma fraternity and 11 of its mem bers. A lawsuit is still pending against five other fraternity members. ' Jack and Judith Ivey of Plano, Texas, alleged that fraternity members tricked their 23-year-old son. Jack Ivey Jr., into drinking too much, stripped him down to his underwear and tied him up before driving him around in the back of a truck on the night of his death in 1998. The Iveys filed the lawsuit in April 1999 in Tarrant County District Court against the fraternity's national offices, based in Chester Springs, Pa.; the UT Austin chapter and 16 members. The settlement, reached last month, includes a one-year suspension of chap ter operations, an action also imposed this summer by the national Phi Kappa Sigma office, said Jerry White, one of the family's attorneys. White would not release a financial breakdown, but "the majority was paid on behalf of the fraternity entities." The Iveys' settlement also requires that no one currently in the fraternity be allowed to return if the chapter reopens. Also, the chapter would be supervised by a board of fraternity alumni. 66 ... The majority was paid on behalf of the fraternity entities/’ — jerry White one of the Iveys' attorneys Robert Miller, the executive vice pres ident of the fraternity's national offices, referred all calls for comment to Jim Ew- bank, the fraternity's Austin-based lawyer. Ewbank was out of the state and did not immediately return phone calls to Associated Press. Miller would not confirm whether the UT chapter was suspended* by the fraternity's national office. The Iveys have been ordered by the court not to share evidence in their case with the public, law enforcement au thorities or University of Texas-Austin officials. White said. "Nothing would satisfy the Iveys more than to tell what happened to their son, but based on the order, it would be too hard to comment on any of this."