Kodiak ># Mirror
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Published every Friday at Kodiak, Alaska
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THE ISLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY
Box 1307, Kodiak. Alaska
Sig J. Digree, Editor and Publisher
Betha Digree, Associate Editor
Staff Photographer.George C. Ameigh, Jr.
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use or repuhlica
tion of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited In
this paper and also the local news published herein.
Watch Those Hidden Taxes
Is is possible for a man to be
elected to office in America with
out promising to do more and more
things for us through government?
The big question is: Do the
American people still have the
moral stamina to exercise the will
power necessary to do for our
selves the things that we should do,
rather than permitting the federal
government to usurp these fields
and in so doing finally take from
us. through taxation, the ability to
resist.
When it first became apparent
that the government could not sup
port its own extravagance through
direct taxation, there came into ex
istence the hidden tax, or to use a
popular euphemism, the indirect
tax. This began as a luxury tax. It
started out on a very plausible
basis. After all, a citizen can choose
whether or not he wants to pay
such a tax because he doesn’t ac
tually need to buy luxuries. If he
chooses not to buy a luxury, he
therefor chooses not to pay this
particular form of taxation.
Once that proposition was
granted, the tax experts of our fed
eral government had a foot in the
door and they were in our houses
and pocketbooks to stay. As a re
sult there are today more than a
hundred hidden taxes wrapped up
in the retail price of one simple
loaf of bread. No one can call bread
a luxury.
We have also seen the growth of
a really extraordinary phenomenon
called the regulatory tax. . . . such
as the tax on safe deposit boxes in
banks.
Hidden taxes have become enor
mously important in the financial
and economic structure of our gov
ernment. They amount to one
fourth of the retail cost of your
automobile, one-third of your tele
phone bill, one-half of the price
you pay for gasoline and oil. If
you recently paid a hotel bill you
thought was too high, you might
reflect on the fact that a hotel as
sociation figures that the average
hotel’s tax burden amounts to S1.93
per day per room, whether that
room is occupied or not.
Here is something further to
think about. The original income
tax law of the United States—the
16th Amendment to our Constitu
tion—came to just 31 words. From
this humble beginning the law has
mushroomed so that it now con
tains 440,000 words—almost half
a million words— and it is so com
plex and so filled with contradic
tions that the average citizen, even
with a very modest income, needs
to employ professional help to
compute his annual obligation to
the federal government, if he
wants to make sure he doesn’t pay
too much or too little.
Then we have something called
surtax. In this area, there is no con
ceivable ratio between the govern
ment's need for revenue and the
penalty imposed on the individaul.
It can only be described as vicious
and punitive. The theory of this
kind of taxation Is purely political.
There are far more poor people
than there are rich people. So if
you give rich people a drubbing,
the poor people won’t mind so
much the drubbing they also get
at the hands of government.
At the very top level the surtax
comes to 91 percent of income,
which is pure and simple confisca
tion. But how much does all this
yield to government. Billions upon
billions out of the pockets of the
very rich? Not at all. All the sur
taxes collected each year from the
50 percent bracket up to and
through the top level, 91 percent,
brings into the treasury only $750
million, considerably lass than the
deficit of the Post Office Depart
ment each year.
In the United States most Amer
icans are in the middle class. The
small businessman, professional
people, the skilled laborer are the
people subject to the biggest direct
and hidden tax bite. Our tax bite
amounts to 34 percent at $8,000 a
year—43 percent at $12,000 and
50 percent at $16,000 per year.
Where is all this leading us?
It is leading us into very dan
gerous waters. History tells us that
when a nation has had a tax burden
of 10 percent of its income that tax
burden has always been paid easily
without damage to the economy.
At 20 percent the process becomes
more difficult, but not impossible.
At this level, historians tell us. tax
evasion becomes common and dis
satisfaction becomes widespread.
But no nation in the entire history
of the world has survived a tax bur
den that amounted to one-third of
its total gross income.
Where do we stand today? The
United States stand roughly at 31
percent* We are just two percent
age marks away from the point of
no return.—from “Life Lines.”
Editor’s Note:
We concur in the above remarks
wholeheartedly, feeling them so
ably presented we couldn’t resist
passing them on to you. It’s some
thing to think about.
Tax Refunds
Still Being Made
Income tax refunds are still be
ing made, according to iDstrict Di
rector of Internal Revenue Conrad.
He had received several inquiries,
he said.
Conrad said the vast majority of
refunds for overpayment have al
ready been sent to taxpayers. He
explained that some returns that
show large refunds due and contain
indications of error are audited be
fore the refunds are made.
IRS pays 6 per cent interest on
refunds scheduled after June 1.
Too much speed on the highways
has a way of making little hazards
turn into big ones.
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor:
We wish to publicly thank the
following individuals, organizations
and firms for the excellent support
given members of the Anchorage
NG Sports Parachute Club, and the
many kindnesses show us while in
Kodiak:
Jay Molletti, Frank Pagano, Sgt.
Archie Zehe, Bob Acheson, Dr.
Bruce Keers, Walt Kraft, Jerry
Chaffin, John Warren, Pete De
veau, Sgt. Merle Webber, SP5
James Poulos, the boat owners who
stood by, the Coast Guard, the mer
chants who fed the jumps, the
Chamber of Commerce who met
the cost of the aircraft, the Baptist
Church for the use of several of
their tables, the Kodiak Telephone
for the use of some of their equip
ment, and the Police Department.
Without the help of those men
tioned, the jumps would not have
been possible.
Major Lloyd T. Mapes
Dear Parents and Friends;
We would like to thank you who
helped make our camp “a thing to
remember.” That also means the
Troop Committee for the “Tele
phone Booth,” putting up and tak
ing down tents and other equip
ment.
We, most of all, want to thank
the FOOD COMMITTEE for plan
ning the menus and keeping us
well supplied with food. Mrs. Ache
son was Chairman.
A special thanks goes to Rev.
White and Mrs. Sutliff for being
our lifeguards—to Mrs. Alice Given
for her help on the Wild Plant
Badge, to Mrs. Blankenburg for
helping on the Salt Water Life
badge and to you who stayed over
night with us, just for that “well
protected feeling.”
We thank our leaders, most of
all, for their hard work and long
hours of planning that made our
days at camp a happy time.
There were so many people who
made our camping days “happy
days” that we would like to extend
a big thank you to, so we take this
way of thanking everyone who had
a part.
Girls of Troops 16 and 21 of the
town of Kodiak.
Junior Staff: Pamela Clemens,
Cindy Thompson, Janelle Wick.
Virginia Gotch.
“No See Urn" Patrol: Lois How
ard, Pat Canup, Susan Cannon,
Pauline Peterson, Jean Hall.
“Fern Hollow” Patrol: Terry
Coker, Barbara White, Judy Ache
son. Betty Hall, Thelma Reft.
“Monarchs” Patrol: Sue Anne
Ramalagia, Barbara Sutliff, Carol
Cannon, Durema Daniels, Laveme
Shumaker.
Waterfront
(Continued from Page One)
liams and other points on the Is
land.
A
A fine vessel, the Oceanic, is now
berthed at the small boat harbor,
and joins the fleet of crab fishing
boats operating out of Kodiak. A
recent purchase of Lloyd Cannon,
the vessel is 83 feet long, and was
built in 1942. Lloyd and his crew
brought it up from Seattle. For
merly a herring boat up here, it
was owned by the Oceanic Fisher
ies. Edgar Scholl has joined the
boat as engineer, with Mike Fitz
gerald and Allen Chemoff making
up the rest of the crew.
They leave in the nejft few days
for the crabbing grounds.
A SI,087,765 contract for harbor
improvements at Horner and Sel
dovia. Alaska, has been awarded
to Manson Osberg Company, Se
attle.
This is the same firm who did
such a good job of constructing
Kodiak’s small boat harbor.
Good Harvest Of
Polar Bears
JUNEAU UP)—hTe State Depart
ment of Fish and Game reported
155 polar bears taken this past sea
son from October 14 to May 7.
The known harvest of brown and
grizzly bears during the spring sea
son, as of June 19, was 150 with
115 of them males. The latter sea
son ended June 30, but complete
figures are not yet available.
Mirror classifieds bring results.
U. OF W. GRANTED FUNDS
TOR TAGGING RESEARCH
SEATTLE (A1)—The University
of Washington was granted $256,
000 to continue its salmon tagging
research in the North Paeif.c.
Underway for the past four
years, the study provides a basis
for forecasting the red salmon runs
in Br stoi Bay.
Perfection is one thing that may
never be reached, but it is worth
reaching for.
NAVY MAN COPS A WHOPPER. S. A. Futch AK2, attached to
the Naval Station here, doesn't know if he caught the biggest halibut,
but he does know it weighed in at ZZZVt pounds, and that it took a
lot of work to land him. It took him about an hour-and-a-half to bring
in the big fish.
Futch caught him on a 110-lb. test line on the D and A dock. Iron
ically, it was just one week prior to the start of the big Halibut Derby,
which begins tomorrow. Though not the biggest halibut in the ocean,
catching this size is not common. Official U. S. Navy Photos
—
YES, WE NAVE IT
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