European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 4 the stars and stripes Friday december 30,19b8 gasoline Price Sand taxes i a Price includes tax tax in selected countries in 1987 in dollars per gallon United states Australia West Germany Britain France Japan Denmark Italy can Carlo fib Fine graphic source intern clonal Energy Agency Gas fax taking . On wrong Road crib is say Washington a a . Motorist nulls into a service station and punks down11.05 for i gallon of gasoline. In Britain the same amount Orgas would Cost the equivalent of12.77, Why the difference. British motorists and Drivers in Many other european countries pay taxes accounting for approximately half the Price of gasoline at the pump making it a luxury item for Many. Some now believe the United states could behead no in the same direction thanks to the mod est Federal Gas lax of 9 cents a gallon. We arc about to follow he europeans Dow the Road of no said Bill Herman director of Energy and environment for the american automobile association. He also Heads a newly formed umbrella group called fuel users for equitable levies fuel which last week launched a grass roots Campaignio offset mounting pressure Tor a Gas tax increase As a Wax reducing the nation s budget anti tax lobby is supported by such groups As the american farm Bureau federation an the american Petroleum Institute. No Gas tax increase is imminent but wit policy makers desperate for some solution to inc deficit the debate is in full swing. Critics say a lax increase would mean slower business higher inflation and fewer jobs. Supporters retort that a higher lax would Cal International jitters about the deficit and thus strengthen the Economy in the Long run. As ans Ducq bin Chi to icy claim it would reduce America s growing dependence on foreign Oil by curbing demand for gasoline. The Effort must now be made to gel the Defi Cit Down,1 former Federal Reserve Board chair Man Paul Volcker said in calling for an increase in the lax. President elect George Bush is opposed to a higher Gas lax but the idea has drawn support from witnesses before the 4-rncmber National economic commission Ere aled by Congress to search for deficit remedies. Each Penny per Gal Lon of additional lax would yield is Pillion in. Revenue., -. Business is divided Over the Issue. Within the Auto Industry Chrysler corp. Chairman Lee la Cocca support a lax increase but general motors corp. Stoutly opposes it on grounds that i would Hammer the Economy. Ford motor co. Is hesitant on the Issue but has said it could sup port a phased increase of 5 cents per gallon per. Year.-. Road building lobby led by the associated general contractors opposes a tax in crease saying the additional Revenue would Goto cutting the deficit instead of expanding the $14 billion Federal Highway Trust fund. Therein no Assurance however that the tax Money would be used to trim the deficit if the Money were channelled into general revenues. Officials racing to bail out mass of a is before Jan. I Washington a Federal regulators arc fac ing the clock to Complete a string of bailout packages for insolvent savings and loan institutions before the end of the year when lax Breaks Tor investors will be. Cut by half. Officials expect that before sunday As Many As 200failed sayings and Loans will have been dealt with his year setting a Post depression record. By contrast 48 a is were merged or closed last year. So tar the Federal Home loan Bank Board has handled the cases of 184 failed a is including two bail outs announced wednesday hat Are among the largest. The Bank Board put together a $3,1 billion package to assist in the takeover of five of the most troubled savings and Loans in Texas by an investment group led by Ronald o. Perlman the head of the cosmetics giant Revlon. Also on wednesday he Bank Board pledged si.7billion in government assistance in the Purchase of american savings and loan association or Stockton,Calif., the nation s largest insolvent so by a group headed by Texas billionaire Robert m. Bass. The size of the government assistance packages required to attract new investors Points up the depth of the problem facing the so Industry and the incoming Bush administration analysts said. The trouble is hat virtually All he options before president elect Bush on dealing with the crisis involve spending More Federal Money which will in turn Worsen his other big economic problem reducing the Feder Al budget deficit without resorting to new taxes. Estimates of the total government Cost of resolving the so mess Range As High As �112 billion and losses Are mounting by is billion a month. For this reason analysts said. Bush cannot afford to delay seeking a solution. The Bush administration will be committing Politi Cal suicide if it does t candidly address this problem immediately after taking office said Ben Ely a Finan Cial consultant in Alexandria. A. This is a big expensive problem and it is getting the Bank Board worked late into inc night wednes Day As the Agency raced the clock to finish As Many deals As possible before sunday when certain lax write offs will expire. The provisions that will expire have allowed firm purchasing failed a is to deduct those association previous losses from profits they earned on Oiler operations. The loss of the provision will effectively Cut the la Benefit to purchasers by half. In virtually All trans actions completed in 1988, the firms taking Over thes is will qualify for tax Breaks exceeding what they Are paying for the institutions. Critics have charged that even though the size of the lost lax revenues will be enormous the Bank Board is not taking this Revenue Drain into account in figuring inc bailout packages total Cost to the government. In a recent letter to Bank Board chairman a Danny Wall rep. Charles Schumer . Expressed con Cern about the tax benefits being handed out and Sai Congress would Likely look Inlo thai in the new year. On top of the Post depression record number of insolvent a is handled this year More than 400 insolvent institutions remain open and hundreds More Are close to insolvency. So far the government assistance has come primarily from the insurance fees the healthy a is pay to the Federal Agency which insures individual deposits up to$100,0 mormons having fewer children Salt Lake City not for the first time inthe history of Utah a slate dominated in nearly every aspect by the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day saints the Fertility rate is reality is apparently winning out Over mormon ideology which holds that n woman s place sin the Home rearing As Many children As possible. Since 1980, while the total Fertility rate or number of births per woman has remained at about 1.8 nationwide inc rate in Utah has dropped from 3.2 to 2.5births per woman. Demographers say those numbers indicate an especially Sharp decline among mormons who account for about 70 percent of Utah s population. It s a dramatic decline in Fertility said Brad bar Ber Utah s director of data resources and demographics. Utah s always had the highest average number of births in the modern Utah s Economy like that of other slates in the Rocky mountains has been battered by declines in , Coal and Metal industries. And mormons have been hit hard since they Bea special costs. An increasing number of women have taken jobs to help make ends meet and delayed having their first child. Most parents Hope that when their children Finis High school they will travel on a two year Mission financed by their families to proselytize in other pans of the world. Mormons arc also expected to pay a Lithe 10 per cent of their income to the Church. Karen Shepard a professor at the business school Al the University of Utah who was once publisher and editor of network a feminist Magazine in sail Lak City said of the mormons when All things arc equal and the Church says stay Home they slay Home. When economic imperatives say you work you leaders responded to declining family size last year when the mormon president Ezra tall Ben son told Young families with All my heart 1 counsel you not to postpone having your children. Do not cur Tail the number of children for personal or selfish Rea sons. Material possessions social convenience and so called professional advantage Are nothing compared to righteous the Church does not prohibit birth control. Bui Achurch spokesman Jerry Cahill while stressing thai the decision to have children is up 10 inc individual said a fundamental mormon belief 15 that la purpose of life is to be married and the purpose of marriage Isa Barber said that mormon couples like other Ameri cans were delaying childbearing and when people delay children they have fewer he said. The mean age of a Utah woman having her firs child has increased from 12.2 to 23.3 in the last dec Ade. The mormon Church has often been criticized As rigidly patriarchal. Under mormon beliefs for exam ple women cannot attain the highest degree of celestial glory unless they Are married and Only men Are Al Lowed to achieve full status As Church members. Some women like Shepard who is not a member of the Church see the current trend As leading to greater Equality for them in mormon life out of control car kills 2 in restaurant Monterey Parki Calif. A a car sped Oul. Of control and slowed into a crowded restaurant kill ing two diners and seriously injuring three others Sil Ting at the same table police said. The car smashed through the Side of the Liny four happiness restaurant Al 5 . Wednesday Hilling Al cast one table of diners and coming to a Stop inside the eatery said police dispatcher Sally i comb. The car pinned the victims against a Wall and a hot stove and authorities had to disassemble the Wall to free them said fire department battalion chief Ernest looked like a War zone no it looked More like the pictures from the armenian earthquake he said. R the Driver Rudy d Agostin. 70, of Sherman Oaks was treated and released from Huntington memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Police said they were investigating what caused his Carlo Speed out of 17-year-Bld girl and a 37-year-old Man Bolh unidentified were pronounced dead at the restaurant eight Miles East of downtown los Angeles Mccomb said. /. A. " a 12-year-old boy was in serious condition at Huntington memorial with a broken wrist broken Collar Bone and Chesi injuries said nursing supervisor Judy Pruitt. A Man was in critical condition Anda woman was in serious condition at Arcadia methodist Hospi Tal said nursing supervisor Flo Van Meier. Three people were treated for minor injuries at the scene Mccomb said. A
