European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 the stars and stripes thursday february 9,1989 Federal regulators seize 4 insolvent a is by the los Angeles times Washington Federal regulators tuesday seized control of four Large insolvent savings and loan associations to Stem financial losses until Congress action president Bush s new proposal to bail out depositors at failed a is. The 60 Federal officials who entered associations i California Maryland Florida and Texas were the Van guard of an army of More than 1,200 who will take over224 insolvent institutions Over the next few weeks. All the a is were major institutions suffering continuing heavy financial losses. Baltimore Federal Finan Cial has assets of $ 1.7 billion Freedom savings an loan of Tampa fla., $1.5 billion Gill savings of Hondo Texas $1.3 billion and Pacific savings Bank of Costa Mesa calif., $1.1 billion. Customers will notice no immediate differences inthe targeted a is operations. We Are not g9ing in there and ripping up the boards l. William Seidman chairman of the Federal Deposit insurance corp., Tolda news conference. The Only Way anyone can Tell we Are there will be a couple More people in the offices Seidman said. The Federal regulators however will have the Power to review and alter any business activities to hire an fire management to rewrite the rules governing Loans and to revise interest rates offered to depositors. Because Many insolvent a is have been offering unusually High interest rates to attract funds it seem Likely the regulators will order lower rates. Current accounts and existing certificates would not be affected but new accounts probably would no longer offer rates higher than the Levels prevailing in the rest of the Thrift Industry. We do not want institutions bidding against each other and bidding up the Cost of funds said Bill Roelle the Odic s associate director. The seizure of insolvent a is was ordered by bus because the insurance fund that guarantees so depos its up to $100,000 lacks the Cash necessary to close the crippled institutions and pay off depositors. The Feder Al regulators will seek to Stem further financial losses atthe seized a is hoping to hold the Cost of guarantee ing deposits to a minimum. We Are combining the resources of All Federal regulators so adequate personnel will be available to move swiftly to take control of All institutions that Are insolvent Seidman said. He was joined at the news Confer ence by m. Danny Wall chairman of the Federal Home loan Bank Board which regulates a is an also operates their Federal insurance fund. Wall s Agency would be dismantled under the presi Dent s plan with the insurance fund going under the control of the Odic which now regulates Banks. The Home loan Bank Board reduced to an Agency to Char Ter and regulates is would become part of the department of the Treasury. Personnel from the Bank Board the office of the comptroller of the currency and the Federal Reserve Board will participate in the seizures but the Domi Nant role will be played by the Odic which has thou Sands of examiners and financial experts. Altogether there Are about 350 troubled a Lsna Tio wide according to regulators. But Only 224 of them meet the standards that permit regulators to seize them without congressional approval. Disposing of crippled a is by closure or Sale will Cost an estimated $90 billion the Bush administration says. Access to irs improves better accuracy pledged Washington a chances of reaching the irs toll free Telephone line with a question about taxes have improved. But at last Check a year ago the Odds of getting a Correct answer had not. Clearly there is room for improvement the general accounting of fice said in a report on a Survey it carried out during last year s filing season. I found internal Revenue service Tele phone ass stors gave the right answer son Only 64 percent of 20 test questions that were asked in 1,776 Calls. The irs says its accuracy rate should note judged solely on the basis of a test Survey and promises its ass stors Are better equipped to give the right answer in the cur rent filing season which ends april 17. The Gao an Arm of Congress called 29irs offices during last year s season. The following results were made Public tuesday callers got through on the first try on76 percent of the Calls up markedly from 61 percent in 1987. On Calls requiring five at tempts the Success rate Rose to 93 percent from 88 percent a year earlier. 9 1,733 questions were answered. 1,110 answers 64 percent were Cor rect although 111 6 percent of the total were incomplete. 0 623 answers 36 percent were wrong. The irs answered a capital gains question wrong 67 percent of the time child care credit 64 percent tax ability of scholarships 60 percent. Irs Assisto save the right answer Only half the time on deducting personal interest. The Gao said it could not compare the accuracy rate of the latest Survey with earlier tests because questions were different. However the Gao was Given Correct answers to 79 percent of its questions in 1987. The irs did its own Survey last filing season checking answers to actual taxpayer Calls and finding 72.4 percent accuracy. A key reason for the inaccuracies the Gao found last year was that 17 of the20 test questions required the irs assist or to ask the caller for More details and the ass stors failed to do so. Probing is important because taxpayers who Call with questions frequently Are not sufficiently familiar with the tax Laws to initially provide ass stors with All the information needed to answer their questions correctly the Gao wrote. On questions affected by recent tax Law changes especially the landmark 1986 overhaul the irs gave the right answer to the Gao 59 percent of the time. The irs was right on 72 percent of questions not affected by change. The Gao emphasized that the inaccuracy rate applies Only to the specific questions that were asked in the Survey not necessarily to All the questions that taxpayers Are Likely to ask. Irs commissioner Lawrence b. Gibbs said that in preparing for the current filing season we. Have expanded Assisto training on probing skills. In addition we continue to emphasize to Al managers the need for Quality review and providing immediate feedback to assist ors who fail to probe  the irs answered 20 million Calls on the 4,359 toll free assistance lines last year. That represented about 85 percent of the direct Contact the irs had with taxpayers. In most areas the irs answer line May breached by dealing 1-800-424-1040, but there Are different numbers in Many locations. The numbers Are listed on Page 48 of the form 1040a instructions and Page 52 of form 1040 instructions. Most telephoned questions Are answered by front line ass stors who often Are part time employees earning Between $6.50 and$11.70 an hour. If they cannot answer a question they Are supposed to turn the caller Over to a backup assist or who has received More training has More reference material close at hand and is paid As much As $ 14.32 an hour. Beaming at Bottom of . Residents of key West fla., Are More kicked off at a ceremony to open the enlightened than some folks at key West Lighthouse after a $250,000 least about the fact that 1989 Marks restoration. Some 300 people visited the american Lighthouse service s by the 90-foot Tower in the southernmost Centennial. The occasion is being City in the contiguous United states. Smoke has no boundaries Airliner study finds Chicago a some airline passengers in non smoking sections breathe As much nicotine from cigarette smoke As those in smoking sections researchers say. A new study also said nicotine Levels in older air Craft that circulate fresh air Are lower than in newer planes that recirculate Cabin air. The researchers writing in Friday s journal of the american medical association studied nicotine Levels in five passengers and four flight attendants after four flights averaging four hours each. Air nicotine Levels in the non smoking areas that Border the smoking area May be at least As High As in similar indoor environments frequented by smokers wrote Margaret Mattson a National cancer Institute researcher and her colleagues. The maximum number of people smoking at any one time was eight and the average was around four researchers said. The subjects carried monitors that measured Nic Otine exposure during the flight and their urine was Analysed for nicotine Content for 72 hours after land ing. Passengers in smoking sections were exposed to from 0.3 to 58.6 micrograms of nicotine per cubic meter of air with a median of 12, the study said. Those sitting in the non smoking Section were exposed to from 0.1 to 71.0 micrograms per cubic meter with a median of 2, the study said. This bears put travellers anecdotal observations that the Section in which one sits is often not As important in determining exposure to smoke As is the environment generated by one s neighbors the research ers wrote. Two of the flights were on Boeing 727s, which circulate 100 percent fresh air and two were on newer Boeing 767s, which recirculate half their air. The researchers said passengers faced significant less nicotine exposure in the planes circulating Only fresh air