THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Citizens' Committee Presents Tax Plan

Local Parks
Plan Rinks
For Skating;


ing behind this move cites the in-
equity involved in taxing repre-
.sentative intangibles as well as
the real underlying property. The
revenue loss by this is $24 million.
In addition, the committee rec-
ommended the repeal of taxes on
machinery and equipment (tan-
gible personal property) and
hence lose a revenue of $120 mil-
lion. The former tangibles tax was
cited as a hindrance to industrial
expansion in the state.
The group further suggested an
increased revenue of $5,000,000
from changes in the business ac-
tivity tax. The new method of
computing would allow either a
$20,000 specific exemption and
itemized deductions or a $10,000
 exemption and a minimum of 50
to 60 per cent deduction. Included
in this increased revenue is a
change of rate to 6.5 mills on pub-
lic utilities.

that premiums received by all
foreign and alien insurance un-
derwriters, less return and re-
in;;ar r~aiim h taxed nt

insu~rance pr emnumis, re t c
a uniform rate of three per cent. The city will flood six parks for
Wtnith respect to domestic insur- ice skating this winter as soon as
ance companies, the group rec- weather conditions permit. City
ommended replacement of the Park Superintendent E. A. Gallup
franchise tax by a one per cent said yesterday.
tax on premiums received and al- Skating facilities will be pro-
locable to Michigan business. $ l vided at Allmendinger Park, Burns
million is the expected gain by Park, Comunity Park, North-side
this move. Park, the Summit St. playground
The committee proposed to re- and West Park. Gallup said.
duce the "disproportionately The park department needs at
heavy burden upon lower income least 48 hours of continuous freez-
people" by exempting from sales ing weather, he said. to build a
tax $300 of presumed purchases surface suitable for skating.
of taxable commodities for each The park employees begin by
Idividual or member of the family. spraying the ground with water
This exemption is to be provided sprinklers to build up a base of
in terms of a rebate of $9 per tax- frozen ground to support the skat-
payer, spouse and dependent. Sev- ing surfaces, he explained.
eral recommended amendments to After the ground is frozen, the
the Sales Tax Act will yield an ad- area is sprayed with hoses. "The
ditional revenue of $3 million. weather must be freezing in order
Another $4,000,000 will be to keep the water from flowing
on off the rink before it can harden,"
gained from a 20 per cent tax on Gallup said. Not all of the City's
tobacco other than cigarettes. In- ice rinks are built on level ground
cluded in the suggestion was the and none of them are contained
combining of the present two by banks or retaining ywalls.
taxes on cigarettes into one and The surface. of the ice is kept
the imposing of a new tax on oth- in condition by daily sweeping
er tobacco products in order to (and plowing if necessary) by
uniformly treat all tobacco prod- park department employees.
ucts. The parks are supervised daily
Beer Tax from 3 to 10 p.m. by supervisors
A tax of seven per cent of the who maintain the shelter houses,
invoice price of beer will reap the record attendance and prevent
state an additional $4 million. rough-housing, Gallup added.
This new tax, it is believed, will "Skating is very popular in Ann
be relative to the rise in beer Arbor," he said, adding that last
prices rather than the previous year there were 54 days of skat-
tax of $1.25 per barrel. ing.
Changes in estate and gift taxes "We have had years with as
to replace the inheritance tax many as 60 days of skating but
would gain the state $7,500,000. the average is about 40 days." he
The new tax would be applied at said.
rates of six to 22 per cent.
The proposal raises that tax on t
thoroughbred racing to seven per ity Groups
cent and on harness racing to A
tour and one-half per cent. This D
move would hinder the Income of P lan Mveeting
cities, so the report further sug-
gests authorization of the cities to A joint meeting between the
impose an admissions tax. The Ann Arbor Board of Education
total gain would be about $2.2 mil- and PTA-PTO members will be
lion. held at 8 p.m. today in the Board
Chain Store Tax of Education Bldg.
Repeal of the chain store tax Purpose of the meeting, accord-
would cause a loss of $500,000. The ing to Board President Harlan
report concluded that this tax Bloomer, is "to inform the parent-
isn't supportable either as a reve- teacher groups of changes and de-
nue measure or as a means of velopments in school curriculum
achieving social policy goals. in line with Board of Education
Finally, the report proposed the policies."
discontinuance of earmarking the Included on the agenda will be
liquor excise tax for the State Aid "brief presentations of the aims
Fund. The move will deposit the of the schools, and the problems
revenues, from this tax into the and issues the Board is concerned
General Fund. with," Bloomer said.

-Daily-Robert Kanner
READY FOR FRIDAY-Menorah stands with two candles, ready for lighting on the first night
of Chanukah, the Jewish festival of lights. One candle is lit the first night, two the second night
and one is added for the remaining six nights. In addition the candle on the top, called a Shamas,
is lit every night and used to light the other candles.
Hillel Schedules Full Program of Events
For Eight-Day Festival of Chanukah

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By BRUCE COLE
Hillel Foundation is planning a
full schedule of events for the
coming celebration of Chanukah,
the festival of lights.
,There will be special Chanukah
program at the Lane Hall coffee
hour 4 p.m. Friday, featuring the
lighting of the Chanukah candles,
a ritual done during the holiday's
eight successive nights and the
singing of traditional Chanukah
songs. Alvin K. Berkum, '61, chair-
man of the Hillel religious com-
mittee, is in charge of the pro-
gram.
A narration of the story of the
victory and the miracle which oc-
curred at this time will also be
given. Latkes, a type of pancake
made from potatoes which is a
traditional food on this holiday,
will be eaten.
Although the holiday begins on
Saturday evening, Friday night
Sabbath services, 7:00 p.m. at the
Hillel chapel, will feature an "In-
troduction to Chanukah," Her-
man Jacobs, director of Hillel,
said.
Rabbi Sherwin T. Wine of
Temple Beth El in Detroit will de-
liver a sermon on "The Chanukah
That Was Forgotten - A Study of
the Real Meaning of the Holiday."
To Play Songs
Prof. Percival Price, University
Carillonneur, will play Chanukah
songs at 5 p.m. Saturday on the
carillon in BurtonaTower, Jacobs
said.
Candle lighting ceremonies will
be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at
Hillel and will cnotinue at. this

time during the duration of the
holiday, through Dec. 13.
"The ceremonies will consist of
the blessing of the lights and the
singing of traditional songs,' the
Hillel director announced.
To Light Candles
Ceremonies on Sunday will take
place during the Hillel Supper
Club around 6 p.m.
On Friday, Dec. 12, at 7:30 p.m.,
Prof. Marvin Felheim of the Eng-
lish department will speak on
" 'Hellenism vs. Hebraism' in
Modern Times," during the regu-
lar Friday night Sabbath service.
Again on Dec. 14, the final day
of the holiday, Prof. Price will

play Chanukah melodies on the
Burton Tower carillon at noon,
Jacobs said.
Supplies Menorahs'
Beside the events at Hillel, sev-
eral housing units on campus will
conduct their own candle light-
ing services. Hillel supplies men-
orahs, the eight-branched can-
delabras which are used to hold
the Chanukah candles,' for the
housing units.
Hillel is sponsoring its first
meeting for graduate students and
University faculty on Sunday, and
the theme of the meeting will re-
volve around the celebration of
Chanukah, Jacobs added.

I,

SPEISER SAYS:
Archaeology Confirms Basis
For Biblical "Uncertainties'

By JAN RAHM
Modern archaeology has proved
the historical basis for certain
facts that Biblical scholars had
questioned, Prof. Ephraim A.
Speiser, chairman of oriental stu-
dies at the University of Pennsyl-
vania said here:: yesterday.
Delivering the first of two
Zwerdling Lectures in Old Testa-
ment Studies, Prof. Speiser ex-
plained that much of the Old Tes-
tament was written long after the
events happened. The authors
were instructed to keep alive the
traditional words and expressions
found in patriarchal documents,
even when the words were no
longer commonly used and the
writers were not sure of the exact
meaning.
In early translations of the
Bible, wrong interpretations were
sometimes used and the results
caused confusion.

CHRISTMAS CARDS
A fine assortment to
choose from
Overbeck's Bookstore
1216 S. Univ.

I
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COMING
SATURDAY

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STARTING
SATURDAY


Prof. Speiser cited several ex-
amples of how archaeological dis-
coveries have recently corrected
common misconceptions. Among
these is the 'coat of many colors"
that was given to Joseph by his
father. Actually the garnent was
a tunic ridhly detailed with metal-
lic decorations.
"The Old Testament is primari-
ly a work of history, although it
does not look like it at first,"
Prof. Speiser said. Even the pro-
phetic books have social and po-
litical history.
There are five books that are
not history, he explained. They
are the "Song of Songs," the
"Book of Psalms," and the three
Wisdom books.
These books show a vital part
of the culture of the Hebrew
people, because the Bible is not a
chronicle of events or stories of-
an individual or of an individual
nation. In it the reader is some-
times referred to specific history
works for details about individu-
als.
"The Bible is the history of a
society in quest of an enduring
way of life which will be valid for
all time," Prof. Speiser said.
The Bible tells of the basic ideas
of Israeli society and the way in
which it differs from the societies
of neighboring countries. Lead-
ing Near Eastern countries of the
Biblical era were Mesopotamia
and Egypt.
Abraham was told to leave
Mesopotamia because the culture
there did not foster religious free-
dom. Later when the people of Is-
rael were taken into bondage in
Egypt they found the tyrannical
dictatorship there intolerable. So
leaving Egypt was an act of free-
dom, Prof. Speiser said.
The covenant given by God to
Abraham that God would bless
the people of Israel and the lib-
eration from Egypt became the
cornerstones of Old Testament
civilization, a small but very im-
portant country that was near
the center of gravity of the an-
cient world,
CHRISTMAS CARDS
A fine assortment to
choose from
Overbeck's, Bookstore
1216 S. Univ.
RUSHING

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Now!

H7

DIAL
NO 2-2513

PLEASE NOTE
UNUSUAL TIME SCHEDULE

JEAN SIMMONS
BECOMES THE DRAMATIC STAR OF STARS IN

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