Ijesflay, July 24. 2(X)1
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Page 5
THE BATTALION
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an additional 51
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Src^iGTON, Ind. - I feared
02. Ask forRictworst and hoped for the
<as a&m Boor bt st out of President Bush’s
part-time help re \i e | package. With the
IRS in charge of distribution,
g, apply at 113-mM , , .
(delivery com P 1 “ can t expect niuch. A
nd Runner-released earlier this year
a dependable "Bported that IRS employees
tahon and floooj S pend 5 1 percent of their on-
mileage Send^ne time doing personal busi-
■lunner, 76ioEisBcss. Even worse, 37 percent
eob° Wtaxpayers didn’t get their
-Bills to the IRS answered, and
sr, part-time, resii T
i. Cali 97W6»iose that got a response were
Kven wrong answers 47 per-
■ent of the time.
I Could the IRS handle the
ptsk of carrying out the “Eco-
omic Growth and Pax Relief
■Reconciliation Act of 2001 ?”
la 2X6.20,505- irn old joke says that things
ndition, $4,ooc | are getting so bad in Wash-
ngton that people are tracing
it gpz. Runs meaning of “politics” to
ts Latin roots: Poli is for
nany, and tics is for blood-
ucking parasites.
OK, so it’s a cheesy joke,
out consider the facts. At the
turn of the year, tax rates, as a
percentage of GDP, were the
highest they have ever been
[in peacetime. The govern
ment took nearly 40 percent
of the typical family’s income
in taxes after accounting for
all federal, state and local tax
es. This is more than twice
the rate paid by the typical
family in 1955.
Moreover, consider that
according to congressional
budget estimates, there is a
projected surplus of more
than $5 trillion during the
fiexf 10 years.
—It’s not hard to imagine
why both major presidential
candidates promised a tax cut
in some form or another in
the 2000 election. But as even
the most detached political
observer knows, it was Presi
dent Bush that made the issue
a centerpiece in his cam
paign. And for that, we must
give him credit. He changed
the debate from if we should
have a tax cut to how big it
should be.
People have devoted their
entire lives to studying and
explaining tax rates, govern
ment revenue, economic .
growth and how all three in
teract. But to put it as simply
as possible, unnecessarily high
tax rates present less incen
tives to work, lower produc
tion and therefore lower gov
ernment revenue from taxes.
Conversely, a lower tax rate
offers more incentive to work,
produce and invest. With the
increased productivity, gov
ernment revenue will actually
rise, even with a lower tax
rate. And as an added benefit,
you’ll be able to streamline
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that paragon of a government
agency: the IRS.
Like he promised, Bush
signed the biggest tax relief
package in a generation and
opened the door to this need
ed reform. The key to the
whole idea is, obviously, get
ting money back to the very
people that earned it so that
they can invest and spend it.
But the IRS, as well as the
president, couldn’t wait for
you to get out and spend the
rebate. So it sent more than
121 million letters (costing
millions of dollars) to notify
people that they’d soon be re
ceiving a tax rebate. Just to
make sure they knew who was
responsible, President
George W. Bush prominently
displayed his name on the
check. I got my letter last Fri
day, but it informed me that 1
“will not be receiving a check
at this time.” Since I didn’t
pay any federal taxes, I sure
don’t expect to get any back.
A half-million families got
a different kind of letter. Un
fortunately the letter they re
ceived was a lie and won’t be
as big as it promised. An In
ternal Revenue Service com
puter glitch overestimated
the rebates for those
500,000. Before the check ar
rived, as you can imagine,
many people went ahead and
spent the extra money they
thought they would have. So
when the smaller check ar
rives, many families will have
already spent the money.
Now the IRS is scrambling
to send out new letters cor
recting the mistake, but the
correction letters will arrive
much later than their small-
er-than-expected rebate. The
result? More debt-for
500,000 families!
Ah, but the IRS wants us to
know that there’s a good side
to all of this. Agency
spokesman Kevin McKeon
points out that, “The good is
that 99.5 percent of the peo
ple are getting the right let
ter.” They might consider the
error a minor mistake, but it
threatens to destroy the very
purpose and aim behind the
relief. Just imagine the chaos
if even more families had
been affected.
President Bush showed
courage and political savvy
by winning the tax cut battle.
It will give a needed boost to
a slowing economy. Now he
must take the next step and
ensure real long-term reform
in government revenue:
Overhaul the IRS.
Joshua Clayboum
Indiana Daily Student
Indiana University
CARTOON OF THE DAY
itomers
lers
y-
You need body art
Outdated laws against tattooing should be revised
T he United States is
a nation built on
laws. People trust
the law and expect to be
protected by it and by
those who uphold it.
Unfortunately, more
and more often people
are finding that laws in
their hometowns are outdated, outmoded
prohibitions on practices that once were
considered immoral or unsanitary. One
such outdated law is the prohibition on
tattooing, which still exists in many coun
ties across the country.
Tattooing was outlawed in Massachu
setts until an October court decision
found the law unconstitutional because it
restricted personal and commercial free
speech. The fight that ended in Massachu
setts with a victory for tattoo enthusiasts is
now heating up in Cleveland, Ohio, where
a tattoo parlor owner is suing the city with
the help of the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) to overturn an 80-year-
old ban on the practice.
Tony DeRigo, owner of Chronic Tattoo
in Elyria, Ohio, claims that the ban on tat
tooing in Cleveland unfairly hurts his
business and restricts the free speech
rights of those who live in the city.
Recent years have seen large amounts of
specious lawsuits against everyone but
God seeking to justify any type of abhor
rent behavior under the guise of free
speech. However, DeRigo’s argument
seems as cut-and-dry as a free speech issue
can be. Tattooing is different from writing
a letter or painting a picture only in terms
of medium.
Most Americans find the idea of gov
ernment restrictions on their right to es
pouse their political or religious views on
paper as clearly unconstitutional and un
ethical. So, it seems that there should be
no problem in extending that argument to
voicing such views on one’s body.
Other reasons for overturning such
anti-tattooing bans are the loopholes that
often are found in them. In the case of
the Cleveland law, tattoo artists are al
lowed to practice within the city limits if
IIbO
they work only at trade shows that last no
more than four days. This, combined
with the fact that the law is part of the
city’s sanitation code, seems to make it
clear that the original intent of the law
was to cut down on the practice of tattoo
ing for health reasons.
In the 1920s, sanitation was surely a
much larger factor in deciding to get a tat
too. However, today’s sanitation methods
are far more effective.
Widespread use of autoclave steriliza
tion devices and sterile, disposable materi
als have made tattooing tar safer than it
once was. The city is still free to place reg
ulations on the health and safety of tattoo
parlors if it chooses to I'epeal the ban, so
why not repeal it?
“Hopefully, the city will be adult and
modern enough to understand that (tat
tooing) is very safe,” DeRigo said.
Considering that DeRigo brought his
case before the city in February and no
resolution has been found, apparently the
city was not as adult as DeRigo hoped.
This case is merely a symptom of a na- ?
tionwide problem.
This country, and the city of Cleveland
specifically, should realize that it is time .
to update the books. Outdated laws such
as this one only serve to make life diffi
cult for ordinary, law-abiding people and
deplete the budgets of local governments
embroiled in legal battles to change the
laws. Anti-tattooing bans, sodomy laws
and the like penalize ordinary people for
victimless crimes and ultimately hurt the
constituency they were originally de
signed to protect.
Jason Bennyhojf is a senior
journalism major.
EN DELUNA/The Battalion
Mail Call
TU£ DRg* RYC£>N'wf~
Rather's silence on
Levy acceptable
In response to Mark Passwa-
ters' July 23 column.
I would like to start off by
saying that 1 would personal
ly congratulate Dan Rather
for not talking about the dis
appearance of Chandra Levy.
Over the past month, the
public has been bombarded
with the same undeveloped
story, over and over again.
Every morning and every
evening we here the same
rehashing of the same facts
and possibilities. To be quite
frank, I am tired of hearing it.
Why don't they use the 30
minutes to report on other
events that are occurring,
and that are developing.
My second problem is
that Passwaters complains
about someone being par
tial, when he is regularly par
tial himself. Granted, he is
only a columnist in the opin
ion section of a school news
paper, not a national news
anchor. And as such he is of
course supposed to show his
view and opinion. But when
all he uses as supportive
sources is Bill O'Reilly and
the Washington Post, we can
clearly see where his lean
ings are.
1 think Passwaters should
take note of one of the
quotes he used from Don
Imus, and ask himself "when
he plans to get in touch with
the rest of the world?" He
needs to realize that there is
far more going on in the
world that deserves air time
besides the same old story.
Nathan Bosdet
Class of '02
Marriage a social,
not religious,
institution
In response to July 23
mail call.
Contrary to Gardner's be
liefs, marriage is not just a
religious institution. It is a
social institution, so there
fore society should see fit to
change it. In no way does
this infringe on the rights of
some religions.
Christians do not own
marriage, it is not something
one group can own. The
government is not saying
that all marriages must be
same-sex. By not allowing
same-sex marriages we are
violating the rights of homo
sexuals (yes, they have rights
Mr. Gardner). Isn't everyone
entitled to life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness.
The stats that Gardner in
troduces would be funny if
they were not so bigoted.
Where exactly did you learn
that homosexuality leads to
beastiality and pedophilia?
If a Catholic priest commits
a sex crime against a child,,
does that mean all Catholics
will do the same?
Let us look at the crimes
that are a result of the hetero
sexual lifestyle. Heterosexuals
are far more likely to commit
rape and spousal abuse. Does
that mean that we should op
press heterosexuals? Mr.
Gardner, even if you believe
the homosexual lifestyle is
something that people
choose to do, then why not
let them choose that?
Is not one of the great
things about being an Amer
ican the right to choose? If
you do not like the homo
sexual lifestyle, then do not
participate in it. But do not
oppress it. That goes against
everything that United
States stands for.
David Cirkin
Class of '02
The Battalion encourages letters to
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or less and include the author's name,
class and phone number.
The opinion editor reserves the right
to edit letters for length, style and accu
racy. Letters may be submitted in per
son at 014 Reed McDonald with a valid
student ID. Letters may also be mailed
to:
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