4~The Daily Renector, GreenvUle. N.C.Wednesday. March 20. 1974

The Lesson: Dvelop Our Own

ABOUT ALL THE CHOICE WE GET!

The lifting of the Arab Oil embargo Tuesday can be hel[rful to the United States in meeting its shortages of oil products.

We should not forget, though, that the embargo was not lifted without some dissention among Middle Eastern Nations. Nor should we forget that the oil ministers announced their intention to review the decision on June 1. This means that there is still dissatisfaction among the Arab nations concerning the United States stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict. And as long as that is true there is always the danger that the Middle East oil supplies could be cut off again.

Perhaps the most hopeful thing about the lifting of the oil embargo is the fact that it indicates an improvement in relations between the Arab nations and the United States. There is also a note of approval of the United States role in negotiating between the Arabs and Israel. Where friendher relations exist, the liklihood of negotiating a permanent peace settlement in the Middle East increases.

However, lifting of the embargo should no*

Tax Revisions Under .Scrutiny

By BILL NOBLITT RALEIGHLocal property taxes are a complex and totally unglamorous area of interest for most members of the General Assembly.

But those taxes are a mess of complex and contradictory laws and procedures, varying from county to county and town to town.

And despite their unpopularity and their complexities, local property taxes make up 70 per cent of the revenue available to local governments across the state, producing upwards of $500 million statewide each year.

Anything that big and that vital ought to make some sense and have some uniformity. Rep. James E. Long. D-Alamance, believes, and he is one of the leaders in a handful of lawmakers who are out to revamp the local property tax system across the state.

Bits And Pieces The thing started last year when Rep. Robert A. Jones, -D-Rutherford, put forth the idea that a lot of people were cheating in not listing their cars for property taxes some $9 million or more was being lost to local governments. Why couldnt some checkoff system be set up, he wondered.

A House finance body dug into the question.

And the more the members dug, the deeper they got into the muck.

Local governments didnt know how to treat mobile homesas vehicles, real estate or what. People are cheating like mad on listing personal property (junk tax, its called, and includes things' like shotguns and diamond rings); some areas :ollect dog taxes, some dont; taxes are based on real property valuations which vary widely.

Several bills attacking pieces of the problem were drawn upand promptly died in committees.

We finally realized we were nibbling at the bits and pieces and we needed to back off and look at the whole situation of how local governments are financed and how the system should work, Long said.

So, we are now proposing that a special study group be set up to look at the whole broad area of property taxes.

What started as a simple

idea has grown into a complex thing which we think can revolutionize the property tax field, Long said.

Thorough Review The 15-member commission would make a comprehensive study. Long explained, with an eye to seeing that local taxes are in harmony with state policies; designed to provide a sound revenue base for the future; and are being fairly, efficiently and effectively administered.

The commission is expected to outline recommendations on how to handle local taxes on cars, mobile homes, inventories, property, tax relief for the poor, disabled and elderly, and a real property revaluation program.

One thing we want to take a strong look at is some way to computerize revaluation so this can be done every year. That way, the suspense would be taken out of it, and the property owner would not face a major hike every eight years, Long said.

Another area of concern, he said, is the present system which discourages improvement and development, especially in downtowr, areas. The owner is penalized if he improves his propertyhis taxes go up, Long said. Some areas are experimenting with a reverse penalty situation to encourage development and improvements.

Elimination of the junk taxes is a strong liklihood. Long notes that local tax officials waste a great deal of effort and time on these. They ask you what you have and take your word for it. People are known to fudge, to wear their faded dungarees and muddy brogans down to list taxesdriving a

Cadillac

Several city governments are pushing for authority to levy local income taxes, collecting from people working in the city who commute from other areas.

Long said he doesnt see a move away from property taxes as the foundation for local revenues, despite the fact that this form of taxation was bom when property was the only wealth available.

Today, however, there are other forms of wealth, and some mjor revision is necessary, he believes.

The Daily Reflector

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signal an end to our energy conservation programs and our efforts to find new energy sources. It is likely that energy shortages will be with us from now on, and if we become increasingly dependent on Arab,oil, only to have it cut off again at some future date, we could be in real trouble.

Middle East oil will soon be coming our way again, but it is well to remember that it is coming at a much higher price than was charged before the embargo was imposed.

The United States should have learned from the embargo that it must develop programs for conservation of energy and it must develop new sources of energy Tor industry and individuals.

Thirty-Day Extension Not Enough For Some

A number of motorists have been hauled in by police for failing to display 1974 auto license plates.

This was true despite the fact that there was a 30 day extension this year, to March 15, because of the gas shortage.

That should serve as a reminder to those who still dont ha^e their auto tags that they must be displayed to avoid a fine.

Kremlin May Turn Tougher

almost two years ago: trade equality for the Russians and ample financial credits. At the height of power two years ago, Mr. Nixon could assure the Kremlin that he could persuade or compel Congress to deliver on those two pledges. His influence today while fighting impeachment has disappeared.

In addition, the Russians are showing understandable fascination with the American-European break, a new factor not foreseeable when they began drawing the original blueprint for detente. The fact that many European diplomats are totally convinced that a Nixon European trip any time in the near future would be an unmitigated disaster is just one more shocking indication of the low estate of the American Presidency.

The first visible casualty in a post-detente era would probably be the next installment of the strategic arms limitation talks, called SALT II. With Mr. Nixon under attack for detente even from the once soft-line Democratic liberals, soviet military leaders are understood to be warning the Kremlin that any hard agreement on SALT II reached with Mr. Nixon in Moscow this spring might not last six months; a new Prsident might take a far harder line.

Hence, some pessimists in official circles here now raise the question of whether a deadlock on SALT II, plus continued Nixon failure with Congress on the trade-and-credits question, might actually postpone the Moscow summit.

The worst immediate prospect if Moscow decided to mute its five-year detente would be in the Middle East, where Kissingers spectacular success in negotiating political settlement is boxing in the Soviet Union. A decision to switch out of detente would vastly increase present Soviet pressure on Syria to play much tougher on separation of its forces from Israeli troops on the Golan Heights.

That would be followed by a demand to reconvene the Geneva Middle East conference, now in recess, where Moscow would dramatically underwrite the most extreme Arab demands and insist on immediate Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands.

If the reappraisal now ominously underway in Moscow does produce a (Continued on Page 5)

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By ROWLAND EVANS

and ROBERT NOVAK WASHINGTON High-level officials here are beginning to fear that the political convulsion growing out of impeachment proceedings against President Nixon may soon switch Moscow out of its uncharacteristic soft-line policy of detente into a tougher, more aggressive foreign policy.

The single major factor behind this ominous switch away from detentea policy considered the personal preserve of Communist party chief Leonid Brezhnevis the decline and possible fall of Richard Nixon.

Will they go on making agreements with a President who may not be around next year, who has lost his clout with Congress? a top U. S. official dealing with Soviet affairs asks rhetorically.

A negative answer to that question could destroy Mr. Nixons plans for large-scale diplomatic accomplishment in the coming months to overshadow and perhaps suffocate impeachment proceedings in Congress. A byproduct of detentes decline could be the cancellation of the Presidents Western European tripa strong possibility today. Even the proposed Moscow summit meeting with Brezhnev might be postponed.

Evidence that a major reappraisal of Soviet policy toward the U. S. is now going on behind Kremlin walls is far from positive, but U. S. policymakers see plenty of ominous signs. One is the five-week absence from Washington of the Kremlins longtime American expert, Ambassador Anatoliy Dobrynin, who is not expected back in the capital at least until after Secretary of State Henry Kissingers trip to Moscow in late March.

The ambassador ostensibly left here for a vacation, and vacation was the official explanation given to the State Department. But his extended absence persuades many U. S. diplomats that in fact he is reporting something new to the Kremlin: for the first time he is convinced the impeachment of Mr. Nixon is a live possibility, not just exaggerated American political rhetoric.

The Soviet urge to reappraise detente stems primarily from President Nixons inability to deliver on promises he made in Moscow

Strength For, Today

BEARING BURDENS

Chsurles Mary Lamb,

outstanding literary pair in nineteenth-century England. But a terrible shadow hung over themthe shadow of insanity. Mary often became violent, and when this happened (Charles cared for her with the tenderness of a parent toward a child. ^Actually, in one of these fits of insanity Mary killed her own mother.

After this terrible oc-currencet when they went walking in the country Charles always carried a strait-jacket with him. Little

By ART BUCHWALD

Now: To TellThe-Truth

WASHINGTON-Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to To Tell the Truth.

No. 1, what is your name, please?

My name is Richard Milhous Nixon.

No. 2, what is your name, please?

My name is Richard Milhous Nixon.

No. 3, what is your name, please?

My name is Richard Milhous Nixon.

All right, panel. Now I will read the story. I, Richard Milhous Nixon, am the 37J President of the United States. I was re-elected with one of the largest mandates in American history. After

my re-election it was revealed that some of my closest aides were involved in dirty tricks, election fraud, breaking and entering and perjury. Congress is now discussing my impeachment. (Applause.)

Now, panel, only one of these three contestants is the real Richard Milhous Nixon.

Lets start the questioning with Kitty.

No. 1, if someone came to you and told you that they wanted to pay hush money to defendants caught in a Watergate break-in, what would you do?

I would tell them it v^s wrong.

All right, Orson, youre

next.

No. 3, it is revealed that on your income tax return you claimed a deduction of $550,000 for donating your vice-presidential papers to the National Archives. But it turns out the donation was made after the law was changed. What would you say to the charges?

I would say the Lyndon B. Johnson made me do it. No 1?

I would say that I only did what John Kenneth Galbraith has been doing for years.

ART

Public Forum

To the Editor:

Im sending the following letter to 78 newspapers in North Carolina, Combined, these papers have a circulatitm of 922,250 copies. The purpose is to give one of North Carolinas fmest leaders credit for his efforts.

Few people have done more for all the dtizois of North Carolina than Dr. Leo Jenkins. It can hcmestly be said, also that few state leaders tajee the time to see what the feal needs of the people are and try to do something about thoSL

Although the larger newspapers criticize him, the peqple who know Dr. Jenkins best know lm to be a Ixg, fiiendly man with brilliant ideas on how to improve the quality of life for all of North Carolina.

Bill Friday and William Dees of the Board of Governors at Chapel Hill want to muzzle Dr. Jenkins and destroy his ideas. Funny, though, that they cant even muzzle the naked runners on our college campuses.

They are jealous. For at least 10 times since 1960, Dr. Jenkins has met his opponents of Chapel Hill in Ralei^ when the legislature was in session, and he has defeated them every single time. He has turned seemingly sure defeats into victories and, in turn, has changed victories into routs. This was accomplished always because his purpose was right and his course set by unwavering determinatioa

Time and time again, he has faced the guns of Chapel Hill and the larger papers, each and every time he has survived to plant the flag of victory over his political opp<xients graves.

Dr. Jenkins has a vision for all of Nori Carolina. He wants better medical care for our citizens. He wants our college students to be exposed to the best possible educations. Dr. Jenkins also realizes that we must do more for our average students and must make (dans to better their lot.

Yes, there are those who are afraid of new ideas, but Dr. Jenkins, as a brilliant leader and a man of great compassion for his fellow man, will not be halted in his struggle to imjHrove the quality of life for all of North Carolina.

Bobby Simpson Newton Grove

BUCHWALD

Bill?

No. 1, the House Judiciary Committee has asked for tapes and documents to help them in their impeachment hearings. How would you handle that?

First, I would tell the American people that I am willing to co-operate in any way to bring the Watergate matter to a resolution. Then I would tell my lawyer not to turn over any tapes or documents that he considered would in any way hurt the Presidency of the United States.

No. 3?

I would say the House is on a fishing expedition and I am against fishing expeditions of any kind.

No. 2?

I would get Ron Ziegler to call it a cheap shot. Peggy

No. 3, at one press conference you said, John Dean did not tell you about the hush money being paid to the Watergate defendants. At another you admitted he did. How would you square the two statements with the American people?

I would say that people will read different things into what I said. But Im the only one who knows what I (Continued on Page 5)

Nixon

Denies

Access

By DONALD M. ROTHBERG Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Nixons words were different. but his message to the House Judiciary Committee was the same: no more White House files until the panel defines an impeachable offense.

During a televised question-and-answer session Tuesday night before the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Houston, the President said:

It is the Constitution that defines what the House should have access to and the limits of its investigation. Now, Im suggesting that the House follow the Constitution. If they do, I will.

What prompted that statement was a question in which the President was asked if he werent seeking to define the limits of the impeachment inquiry by saying what he would and would not give the House committee.

Nixon replied that the Constitution defines grounds for impeachment as treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors.

He then seemed to suggest that the House committee should limit its requests to material that would bear on what are found to be high crimes and misdemeanors.

But a problem is that the House committee and the President disagree on the definition of impeachable offenses.

At a news conference on Feb. 25, the President said, The Constitution is very precise in defining what is an impeachable offense. ... A criminal offense on the part of the president is the requirement for impeachment.

The House Judiciary Committee hasnt made any final determination of what it will regard as an impeachable offense.

But a staff memorandum giv- . en members of the commitee just four days before President Nixon gave his definition said that, in drawing articles of impeachment, the House has placed little emphasis on criminal conduct.. ..

Much more common are allegations that the officer has violated his duties or his oath or seriously undermined public confidence in his ability to perform his official functions. Members of the House panel didnt necessarily agree with the staff study.

Rep. Edward Hutchinson, R-Mich., the ranking Republican,

* said the study speaks to the committee, it does not speak for the committee.

The President has portrayed the House committee as making broad requests for material in an attempt to find something that would fit an unspecified definition of an impeachable offense.

For example, last Friday before a group of business executives in (Chicago, Nixon said some people would have him give the committee a fishing license to go through presidential files in order to find out whether or not there is a possibility that some action had been taken which might be and might result in an impeachable-offense.

His message then, repeated Tuesday night, was that to permit such a broad search would irreparably weaken the presidency.

Projections On U.S. Economy

did people .suspect, as this brother and sister walked

carrying on their very intellectual discussions, that the terrible fear of something over which they had no control was ever with them.

Yet Charles and Mary Lamb were different from the other people only in degree. How can we even guess the weight of the burdens carried by peale we pass in tire street every day? uch awareness ought at least to make it easier for us to carry our own burdens.

. By Elisha Douglass

By JOHN CUNNIFF AP Business Analyst NEW YORK (AP) Prosperity and problems, a questioning of basic ecMiomic assumptions and less involvement by the federal government are among the projecti(ms being used by a major bank in planning for the year 1985.

count years before they occur, but usually their most .serious projections are confined to the very immediate future. But for its own internal use, the Continental Illinois Nati(mal Bank went further.

It foresees the Gross National Product, ot the total of all goods and produced and services provided, as rising from about $1.3 trillion in 1973 to nearly $2 trillion in 1985 and thats after discoun^g for inflation. ^

Yes, they expect inflation

to continue, at a rate averaging close to 3 per cent between now and 1985. Otherwise that GNP figure would come out to soinething like $2.85 trillion Measured in constant dollars, nearly 60 per cent of all families are expected to be earning $10,000 or more in 1985 the percentage'^was about KaK that in im the median income is foreseen rising to $12,000 from $8,600.

But just as inflation and higher than qsual interest rates are likely to persist, the banks forecasters told its staff, so will it be more difficult in the future to achieve a jobless rate near or below 4 per cent The savings rate, which during the past three years topped 8 per cent briefly, is foreseen as averaging around 6 per cent, or only slightly lower than average (rf the

decades of the 1950s and 1960s.

The cult of youth is expected to fade as the birth rate declines to two children per woman, but the percentage in the 25-44 age bracket is projected to rise significantly. And that means more housing nearly double Ihe 1960s rate.

Wfmea will be in tie ascen-. dancy in job maurkets, income, influence, power. Over the past 20 years female employment grew by about 70 per cent, while male em-(doyment rose 20 per cent. That trend js expected to continue.

Continuing another trend, the economy is expected to become even more service-than product-oriented, meaning the majority of jobs will be in trade, transportation, finance, the professions and the like rather than in manufacturing.

Expectations of changes in societys attitudes and values toward business, the quality of life, work, income, living standards and the like conceivably could j^esent some touchy problems.

The forecasters seemed ^ convinced that the federal government will be less a factor in individual lives than during recent decades, at least in regard to the spen> ding public revenues. Internationally, the report ' concludes that orn relative basis, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This, it sai<l, is not a problem thiat can be ignored by the managers of multinational firms nd financial institutions. Especially as world trade accelerates, the forecasters . said, there will be increasing attention focused on the issue of world income distribution. "