Bennington Banner from Bennington, Vermont • Page 4

4- Hennington Banner, Tuesday, March 23, 1971 The Bennington Banner Published every day except Sundays and holidays by the A PUBLISHING CORPORATION 425 Main Street, Bennington, Vermont 05201 Editorials There's no escape from IRS One reason people are more tolerant than they ought to be about waste in the Pentagon and other high-living branches of the federal establishment is that they don't really understand the mechanics of the federal income tax. The average person, to be sure, realizes that his income taxes are inordinately high; but he consoles himself with the fact that the rates, at the federal level, are at least not being increased year by year in contrast to tax levels at the state and local level, which seem to be riding an endless escalator. But this is an illusion. What the taxpayer generally doesn't realize is that in a period of inflation, such as we have been experiencing for the past two decades, his federal income tax payments go up and up even though the posted rates may remain steady or even decline. As an interesting article in last Friday's Wall Street Journal by Prof.

Robert B. Shaw of Clarkson College of Technology points out, there is, in effect, a federal tax or. inflation -on the loss in the value of the dollar. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. The first arises from the fact that federal income tax is graduated.

As prices rise and the value of the dollar declines, you have to earn -Editor's Notes- more money to stay in the same place. But as you earn more money you move into higher brackets and therefore are taxed at higher rates, even though your income in real dollars may be declining. The second reason is that as the cost of living rises the value of personal exemptions and standard deductions declines. The $600 personal exemption, for example, was established in 1948, but since then the purchasing power of the dollar has been cut almost in half. To keep the taxpayer even with the game, the exemption today would need to be close to $1,000, which it isn't.

The net effect of all this is that the average person is paying a much higher percentage of his income in federal taxes today than he was a decade ago, even though the posted rates have declined slightly during that period. And as Prof. Shaw gloomily points out, the worst is yet to come: "If inflation continues long enough, we may all be promoted into the 70 per cent tax bracket without ever receiving any increase wha tever in our real About the only consoling thought is that a taxpayers' rebellion will presumably blow the whistle on Uncle Sam before this saturation point is reached. News from Bennington's economic front is somewhat cautiously cheery. Hopefully, the noise situation at Catamount Dyers has been handled in a tactful and satisfactory manner short of a public shoot-out.

Word that the Cushman plant will probably continue in operation and that Ben-Mont may soon resume production is more welcome than a spring breeze to worried employes and local officials. Even though it rather looks as if there may be some serious cuts in the Grand List as a result of ownership changes of these plants, with a resulting effect on the tax rate, it's a fact of economic life that a slight boost in the tax rate is easier to face than a couple of factories standing empty and dead. At last week's educational conference for town officers in Manchester, Robert Stewart, spokesman for the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, managed to perpetuate one of the myths that seems to die hard in Vermont. Speaking of the poll tax, Stewart noted that it "hits that portion of the population not paying property tax renters." Renters of course do contribute to the property tax load in the rent they pay to the landlord, who in turn pays it in real estate taxes. This fact is plainly recognized by the state itself in its formula for Senior Citizens property tax relief.

Under that formula, qualifying seniors may deduct either property taxes or a certain percentage of their rent in applying for the relief. The only properties getting a free ride in the state are those owned by churches, schools and colleges, hospitals, libraries and other institutions that are exempt from listing on the tax rolls. The poll tax has occasionally been referred to in Vermont as a "head tax." The 1971 legislature in its wisdom is continuing the practice of taxing "heads" of people; but the Vermont House has voted to exempt "heads" of cattle, horses and other livestock from the personal property tax throughout the state. At the present time such exemptions are on a local option basis and depend on the wishes of the voters. Of course that will never do.

The current tragic situation in Northern Ireland brings to mind a remark by Bernadette Devlin, in her book, "The Price of My Soul." The population of that beleaguered land, said Miss Devlin, "includes many Protestants, somewhat fewer Catholics, and practically no Christians." A great many open minds should be closed for repairs. Springfield Union. HELL -MS 15 SOUTHEAST ASIA." SKff SMKMIN4 UNFRlIIMS 'EKUftflHD I'LL Mountain Chatter When is enough? By CARLO WOLTER SEARSBURG. SNOW AT Skylark Is receding fast. At this writing the snowbanks have lost about three feet and the backyard bird feeders are emerging like submarines.

Charlie pokes holes in the ice crust of the driveway to channel the rivulets of melting snow away from the house. "Now we have space again to dump the next New regulations would ban ATVs To the Editor of The I am writing this letter in regard to the bill S.555, that has been introduced in the Vermont Senate by Sen. Arthur Gibb of Addison County. This bill would virtually outlaw trail bikes, dune buggies and all-terrain vehicles, if passed. The bill requires that an operator of these vehicles be: 1) over 16 years of age; 2) obtain written permission before going on private land; also it would 3) restrict them to certain areas of public land, as certain times of the year; 4) raise the registration fee to $15 per year.

The Banner, due to either terrain vehicles have steel spikes on their tires, start forest fires and flatten vegetation. In truth these machines leave no damage and few tracks in their wake. There tires are more than a foot wide, with only two pounds of air pressure in each one of the six tires. They leave no more of a track than a horse would. As to charges made in regard to noise and air pollution, I fail to see how a 16 to 30 horsepower machine can be compared to cars and trucks with many, many times more power.

Any violation of the regulations in the bill would carry a $500 fine. design or neglect, has failed to Ihere are 10 rules for operation; inform the people of the Benr have mentioned only the four nington area about this bill. area about There have been several articles in the Rutland Herald about it, with several myths about the ATVs in these articles. Some legislators claim that all- worst ones. wheel-drive vehicles such as Jeeps are exempt in the bill, as are snowmobiles, motor boats and farm tractors.

The Sierra Club and the Audubon Society are Opposition to highway To the Editor of The Banner: The following is a copy of a letter to John G. Simson, executive director of the Bennington County Regional Plann i i We would like to register our opposition to the east-west highway passing through Bennington. Our reasons follow: 1. The Green Mountain Range does not appear to provide an easily prepared, route across the the mountains on the Bennlngton- Brattleboro axis. In building a route over the mountains at this point, ecological damage would certainly occur, including purchase of previously rural land and the possible disruption of north-south wildlife travel.

2. At the time when schools cannot be funded completely, when people are still going hungry in the United States, when municipal services in so many Vermont towns are decreasing while the population grows with nearly stable Grand Lists, it seems ironic that the federal and state governments have so much money from the highway fund for "more urgent" highway projects. We urge your commission to study the federal Highway fund and make recommendations for its use. In urban and suburbane areas some of the best land is paved over. In some of those same urban and suburban areas the highways are ineffective for moving the required number of people from their homes to their jobs, while mass transportation in these areas has either disappeared or is in poor repair.

Perhaps a more urgent need for highway money is in these urban and suburban areas for mass transit facilities rather than i a 3. Vermont's natural resource is its beauty. We firmly believe that this beauty must be accessible in winter and summer. However, if we keep making it Supports dental and eye care for needy young Vermoniers To the Editor of The Banner: -The following is an open letter to readers of The Banner: H. 151 is a bill now being considered by the Health and Welfare Committee of the Vermont House.

It would provide dental and eye care for Medicaid- eligible children under age 21. A more accessible it won't be too long before the beauty of unspoiled wilderness areas, pastoral scenes, clear unspoiled air, water and views will be eliminated because of our progress. 4. Currently local traffic on Vermont 9 from Bennington to Brattleboro appears not to justify a new east-west highway. We question the sagacity of Vermont's generousness to serve as a funnel for travel from New York State to New Hampshire and northern New Skiers and tourists are entitled to a better Route 9, but might not consider Vermont as charming if there were a four-lane Interstate to the door of Mount Snow, a a 5.

We urge the Bennington County Regional Planning Comission to work for an acceleration of progress on the Bennington Beltline in lieu of the eastrwest highway. In the Bennington area most of the confusion and delay are due to Vermont 9 and U.S. 7 crossing in downtown Bennington. GEORGE E.LERRIGO For Bennington Environment 323 South St. 77iw letter was signetl alto by Mr.

and Mrs. Michael Ader, Mr. and Mrs. Einar Michaelsen, Karen Michaelsen and Mr. and Mrs.

Peter Mailer. trying to get Jeeps included in the bill, unsuccessfully so far. All-terrain vehllces are covered by the present snowmobile law, which is ample. The problem lies not with the law, but with its enforcement. It seems to me absurd to expect the State Police to enforce any law with only four machines in Bennington County.

It must be remembered also that this area for police coverage includes every hill and field in the county, not just alongside the highway. It is my belief, therefore, that this bill is not intended to be enforced. It is intended to outlaw these vehicles, so that enforcement won't be necessary. I also believe that if this bill becomes law, next year snowmobiles will be added to it. KENNETH HARRINGTON East Street Shaftsbury.

big snow came. THIS MORNING a flock of about 30 redwinged blackbirds, all males, dropped like black ink spots on the white snow. As they took off, another batch of about 50, a mixture of males, females and brownheaded cowbirds, flew in. No purple finches yet, nor redpolls, but a lone song sparrow trilled from the bush. Verder Elwell of Shaftsbury writes that purple finches have arrived at his feeder, as well as some evening grosbeaks.

He also reports that the dozen cardinals, that arrived earlier this year, are still around. Redwings, however, haven't shown. Maybe ours will take a trip across the mountains to visit him. dicapped person is likely to be a far greater expense to the state in later years as the recipient of welfare and or medical payments. During the early years dental disease can be more easily checked or avoided and vision problems treated and corrected, thus removing the possibility of pp i.

-T ia two ma handicaps which Logic or propaganda. 11 $400,000, which would be matched adverse iy affect the lives and 'OUR NEIGHBORS, Alice Murphy and her daughter Veronica, informed me that the crippled blue jay they found in the snow about two months ago had completely recovered. Its backward bent foot had straightened, its injured wing healed and its missing tail feathers grown out again. Apparently it also knew when it would be safe to leave its foster home, for when Alice placed the open cage in the tool shed for an airing, the jay flew off into the woods, screeching a thank-you note from the crown of a tree. Although saddened by its departure, the Murphys are happy for its recovery.

They left food and water by the door just in case it returns for a visit. A RECENT newspaper article by Steven V. Roberts tells about the dilemma the state of Oregon finds itself in. Seems that Oregon's slogan, "Grow with publication issued by the Department of Economic Development, was a bit too successful. So it changed it to a less striking name, "Oregon Quality." Thus, anyone talking to Gov.

Tom MeCall may hear him say, "Come visit us again and again. But for heaven's sake, don't come here to live." There are other states that are trying to curtail the population influx. Florida no longer desires to be known as the fastest growing state in the union. Los Angeles, Planning Commission recently proposed a "rollback" in the zoning laws to provide for a future five million people instead of a currently projected 10-miUion. The Cape Cod Planning and Economic Development Commission is trying to limit the number of hotels and restaurants in the area.

"If we continue to insist on more and more roads and more motels, we'll end up with wall to wall people," said Carroll P. Sheehan, Massachusetts development director. AND SO it goes. Colorado, Hawaii, Alaska, all have their growing problems. Vermont, too, is wearing the same kind of boots.

Not so long ago people moved here because they loved its tranquil valleys, its green, pine- scented mountains, its clear, cool waters, its charming old New England villages with their steepled, century-old churches. These people cherished its sedate way of life, even its rugged, subzero, snow-clogged winters. Suddenly its peacefulness vibrated under a new slogan, "Vermont the beckoning Country." It was plastered all over the pages of big city newspapers and magazines. It proved so effective that within a short time an exodus from the cities led right into tiny Vermont, the promised land. With it came polluting industry, atomic power plants, developers and crimes.

Vermont's carefree trustfulness faltered. We can no longer sleep safely behind unlocked doors, the way we used to. Many of the newcomers couldn't accept our unpretentious country living. Demands for city conveniences grew, resulting in more roads, more schools, more fire and police protection and higher taxes, which seldom pay for the new services. SKI AREAS spread their octopus arms over the hills and valleys; ersatz Alpine villages sprung up on bulldozed slopes like dandelions on a lawn; pastoral valleys become dotted with trailer parks; fat prime cattle, grazing on verdant pastures, made way to housing developments, condominiums and cluster housing.

Plans are even under way for 19-story high rise apartment houses, one of the ugliest things to despoil a captivating Green Mountain glen. And all in the name of progress. But progress isn't always for the better, nor is it always beautiful. It often destroys the very thing people came for in the first place. VERMONT IS slowly losing its once famed character and rare individuality.

If if continues to deface its lovely countryside, there will be nothing left worthwhile to come here for, not even for a weekend. Perhaps it's time to get off and follow in the footsteps of Oregon. Although we can't prevent growth, we can slow down and take it step by selective step. If we could preserve the historic charm of our villages, keep development to an orderly minimum with just enough suitable industry to keep our economy on an even keel, Vermont could be a model state. The ancient Greeks had a wise saying: "Everything within means, nothing to extremes." by federal funds of almost double this amount, is needed to cover the cost of such a program.

It would be a grave mistake to attempt to meet the cost of this health care out of the present Social Welfare budget, at the expense of basic requirements such as food, clothing, and shelter. Most of our neighboring New England states now provide this care to needy citizens. This is a relatively small sum to invest in a program of such importance, when you consider that a child growing up without adequate vision, or with dental disease, can hardly be expected to become a productive adult. Such a ban- opportunities of many of Vermont's young people. The League of Women Voters of Bennington as well as the state LWV strongly supports this legislation and the necessary funding.

Won't you write to Benjamin Gould, chairman, Health and Welfare Committee, House Chambers, Montpelier, or to your own legislators, and add your support, so that funding this program becomes a reality and Vermont will provide further opportunity for all its children to grow into healthy, productive adults. (Mrs.) BARBARA GEER. Bennington LWV Bennington. Arguments for SST just plain silly The owl and the snowmobile i destruction by snowmobiles now To the Editor of The Banner: Coming next Wednesday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m., is an open meeting on snowmobiles and their regulation. It will take place in the auditorium of the junior high school.

Herbert Ogden, of have the opportunity to hear about ways and means of dealing with them. I hope that our state legislators will take note of this meeting. In conclusion, I would like to Windsor, will conduct 'the from a note sent to me by a meeting, and the Twin State resident of White Creek, which Group of the Sierra Club is the indicates that not only people are disturbed by these machines: She says, have seen owls acting really weird in White Creek. Thp owls seem frightened of the snowmobiles, and come into town in broad daylight, and sit in trees looking apprehensively at the sponsor. I am a Sierra Club member, and am happy to see that this old and respected conservation organization, which has a nationwide membership, is getting underway in Vermont and New Hampshire (the twin states).

I am also pleased that those of us who long for regulation of noise, trespass, and (Mrs.) JOANNA KIRKPATRICK Bennington. By FRANK MANKIEWICZ andTOMBRADEN WASHINGTON. THE SST will be coming to a vote in the Senate this week, and the curious thing is that it has become noncontroversial. That is to say, there are no arguments in its favor which reasonable men can advance. It may carry, but that is now only a demonstration of how grotesque our sense of priorities has become.

The proposal is a simple one. Shall the taxpayers finish spending $1.3 be given to two private businesses -General Electric and Boeing so they may manufacture a modern toy the supersonic transport -to be played with only by those willing to spend much more in order to fly to Europe in three hours instead of five? IT IS DIFFICULT to believe that half or more of our Senator 1 will join in the plunder. The taxpayers are being called on for the contribution only because Boeing and GE shareholders cannot find banks willing to lend the money; they failed the market test. But then, banks are run by hardheaded businessmen, generally not in need either of labor's political support or of defense contracts in their districts. THE ARGUMENTS advanced for the SST fall generally into three major categories: balance of payments, jobs and prosperity and maintaining U.S.

commercial ah- supremacy. The balance of payments arguments has been condemned by virtually all economists not directly on the federal payroll. It says the widespread purchase of the SST the break-even point is somewhere between 300 and 500 planes by foreign airlines will bring in large dollar earnings. But there is no assurance that the purchase will be made -most foreign airlines are already running large deficits and can hardly finance either standard or jumbo jets. And the majority of passengers will be Americans bound for Europe and Asia to spend dollars and arrange for the spending of more.

Anything that makes it easier for rich Americans to get abroad faster is bound to be counterproductive as a dollar earner. THE SECOND argument has to do with jobs. The point here is that hundreds of thousands of workers, some highly skilled technically, would be employed on the SST. This is undoubtedly true it depends for its validity upon the proposition that if it were not for the SST these men and women would not be employed at all. Not only is this patently false, but it ignores the certainty that the money would be spent for the production of something else, as well as the possibility that it would be spent for something -for example, rapid transit -which would employ even more workers, including the scientists and engineers, and which would benefit more than just the Jet Set for whose enjoyment the SST is exclusively designed.

THE FINAL ARGUMENT is an appeal to national pride and says that we must remain ahead in aviation and that, if we do not build the SST, United States and foreign airlines will buy the British-French Concorde or the Russian version. The SST lobby thinks so little of the intelligence of the American people that it is paying for full-page ads holding out the specter of the Russian plane grabbing the orders. But the Concorde has already been viewed negatively even by British and French airlines too costly and U.S. airlines, which cannot now afford even the SST, would never buy the Russian version. If the SST is approved, Congress may expect a budget request from Tiffany's for $200 million, in order to design and create 200 exquisite diamond necklaces.

If we don't create them, the argument will go the Russkies will..