Page 2- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 27, 1985

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Report blasts worst
IRS season ever

WASHINGTON (AP)-At some tax-
processing centers, taxpayer letters
were destroyed, refund checks were
mutilated, some people put in 80-hour
weeks, and tax forms were left in
restrooms and on loading docks, the
General Accounting Office reports.
In reports distributed on Capitol
Hill this week, the GAO, an in-
vestigating arm of Congress, pointed
to inadequate staffing and a
changeover to a new computer
system as primary reasons for what
Se ohn Heinz (R-Pa.) said yester-
day as "the worst tax-filing season
in history."
MORE THAN seven months after
the April 15 federal income tax
filing deadline, the Internal
Revenue Service said yesterday that
1.9 million tax returns remain un-
processed because of taxpayer or
agency error.
Speaking to reporters in
Philadelphia, Heinz said the GAO
report on problems at the
Philadelphia Service Center "confir-
ms the center was unprepared, poorly
staffed4pnd incompetently managed.
"The picture drawn is of a quirky,
error-prone, even hopeless high-tech
sweat shop where the choice if you are
an employee was either to quit or try
to do an impossible job."
THE IRS is reviewing GAO's fin-
dings, said spokesman Ernie Acosta.
"We worked closely with the GAO
during their investigation so we are
aware of the situations," he said. "In
many cases, we have already taken
corrective action."
Worker turnover and inexperience
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were keys to problems in Philadelphia
and at centers in Fresno, Calif., and
Austin, Texas, according to the repor-
ts, which focused on those centers.
IN AUSTIN, the agency hired 3,270
people from September 1984 to May
1985, but"most of these employees had
little experience for the work they had
to do," the GAO said, and the attrition
rate for temporary workers reached
80 percent.
In Philadelphia, a unit that corrects
tax return errors lost 45 tax
examiners from mid-February
through April 1985 due to resignations,
firings, reassignments or voluntary
furloughs, the GAO said. It said the
unit had 367 hours of computer
"downtime" from February to July.
IRS Comissioner Roscoe Egger told
a Senate panel last week the gover-
nment has paid $47 million in interest
this year on tax returns not processed
by the agency within the required 45
days after the filing deadline. For the
same period last year, the figure was
$27 million.
A major section of the GAO's report
on the Philadelphia center focused on
nine alleged incidents of "lost" tax
documents from July 1980 to June
1985. It said seven of these incidents
were substantiated by IRS.
Egger said last week that new com-
puter equipment would upgrade
capacity and minimize problems
during the next tax season. He said
IRS is launching "sensitivity
training" to help employees better
understand taxpayer concerns and
the agency's mission.

Lucky dog Associated Press
President Reagan, his dog Lucky in tow, waves as he arrives at Point
Mugu Naval Air Station in California yesterday. The dog, which repor-
tedly has become too unruly to keep at the White House, is being moved to
a permanent home at the Reagan ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif.

Cartoonists join war on hunger

NEW YORK (AP) - The
superheroes, talking animals, and
harried heroines of the nation's comic
pages will put aside their imaginary
concerns Thanksgiving Day as 175
leading cartoonists devote their strips
to the issue of hunger.
The "Comic Relief" project - con-
ceived by "Doonesbury's" Garry
Trudeau and co-sponsored by Charles
Schulz ("Peanuts") and Milton Caniff
("Steve Canyon") - is to raise
awareness and money to feed the
world's hungry.
SO IN ADDITIONto broaching the
subject of hunger in each of their
strips, the cartoonists have asked

newspapers to give over some space
on the comic pages for ads soliciting
donations for USA forAfrica.
"The comics page has always been
something of a public utility; it is
simply there, day in and day out - for
80 years, a totally dependable part of
our national culture," the reclusive
Trudeau said in a statement.
"What better way to reach people
than through characters they've
known all their lives? On
Thanksgiving Day, 90 million comics
readers won't be able to avoid a
troubling but hopeful message - that
world hunger persists, but there's
something we can do about it."

SAID CANIFF: "We do not expect
to save civilization, but we hope to be
credited with an assist."
David Stanford, who edits
Trudeau's and Schulz's books at Holt
Rinehart & Winston and helped coor-
dinate the project, said it now in-
cludes almost every major cartoonist,
each dealing with the subject in his or
her own way.
"Doonesbury" serves up a dinner
for the homeless in front of the White
House. The title character of "Nan-
cy" says she is starving, but
"relatively speaking." Snoopy of
"Peanuts" alludes to his empty sup-
per dish.

IN BRIEF
COMPILED FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Mines explode in S. Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Two land mine explosions injured a
black driver and damaged two farm trucks near the Zimbabwe border
yesterday in what was thought to be the first mining of roads in South
Africa by anti-apartheid guerrillas, authorities said.
A Defense Force statement said the driver suffered leg wounds in the
first explosion on a dirt road. A white farmer's pickup truck was
damaged in the second blast, but he was unhurt.
Three blacks, "presumably African National Congress terrorists,"
were seen in the area before the blasts and were believed to have fled
back into Zimbabwe after planting the mines, the statement said.
It said two more mines were found and "rendered harless" by mine-
sweeping vehicles on other roads west of Messina.
Meanwhile, police headquarters reported persistent scattered rioting
in black townships around South Africa. A black councilman shot one
man dead in Cape Province, when a mob of blacks attacked his house, the
report said.
Dissident's wife to exit USSR
MOSCOW - Yelena Bonner, wife of dissident Andrei Sakharov, returned
to Moscow yesterday to prepare to go abroad for medical treatment after
19 months of internal exile with her husband in the closed city of Gorky.
Police guarded her apartment and barred reporters seeking to meet
with her.
Bonner, 62, suffers from eye and heart problems. After Sakharov
conducted at least three hunger strikes, Soviet authorities said they
would permit her to seek medical treatment in Italy and the United
States.
Word that she would be allowed to spend three months abroad came
before the summit in Geneva last week between Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev and President Reagan. It was seen as a gesture on human
rights, which have become an important point of contention between the
superpowers.
In two rarely permitted telephone calls, one last month and the other
last week, Bonner told relatives in the United States she planned to go to
Italy for treatment of her eyes, then to the United States for heart
surgery.
Hassan retracts talks offer
RABAT, Morocco - King Hassan II pulled back yesterday from a sur-
prise offer to hold peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres
and said the offer had been misinterpreted.
He told French reporters he did not envisage any direct contacts with
Peres but was ready for indirect negotiations through United Nations
Secretary General Xavier Perez de Cuellar.
There was no official explanation for the apparent reversal of the king's
position.
In a televised meeting with other French reporters Monday,Hassan
volunteered the disclosure that Peres had asked to be invited to Morocco
for Mideast peace talks with the king.
After saying Monday that no conditions were attached to a meeting
other than that Peres must put forward "serious proposals," Hassan rev-
erted yesterday to the long-standing Arab demand for a prior Israeli
commitment to withdraw from Arab territories and recognize self-
determination for the Palestinians.
Chamber urges halt to tax bill
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, charging the tax
revision bill awaiting House action could "deindustrialize America,"
called on President Reagan and Congress yesterday to abandon the
current struggle for tax simplification.
"It's time to take it off the table and put it aside," said chamber
President Richard Lesher.
The organization, the nation's largest business trade association, said it
was prepared, if necessary, to mount a heavy lobbying effort to defeat the
bill approved last weekend by the Democratic-controlled House Ways
and Means Committee as well as the president's plan.
Both measures would completely rewrite the tax code, wiping out
scores of current deductions and credits and establishing fewer tax br-
ackets.However, the House version would shift the tax burden away from
individuals and toward businesses more than would the administration
plan.
The Chamber, which claims a membership of 180,000 to 200,000
businesses, business groups, and state and local chambers of commerce,
previously had not taken a formal position on either the White House tax
bill or alternatives in Congress, although it had expressed serious reser-
vations about many provisions.
NASA shuttle liftoff succeeds
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Riding a 700-foot geyser of fire, shuttle
Atlantis set the night ablaze in a dazzling show of sound and light last
night as it rocketed away from Earth with seven astronauts who will
practice methods of building a space station and search for water in
drought-stricken Africa.
The spectacular launch began right on time at 7:29 p.m. as Atlantis
flashed to life with a light twice as bright as the sun, sending a cascade of
flame rushing like a waterfall over the launch pedestal.
Thousands of viewers in the area were treated to a brilliant show as the

100-ton spaceship darted out over theAtlantic Ocean. The thundering
sound from the rockets vibrated buildings at the press viewing site three
miles from the pad.
During a week in orbit, the astronauts will launch three satellites, sear-
ch for underground water in Africa using a special camera, operate a
small medicine factory and grow a variety of crystals.
Two of the crew will become history's highest construction workers.
During two long spacewalks, they will use 99 aluminum struts to build a
45-foot beam and a small pyramid to test the human ability to assemble
structures in orbit.
Vol XCVI -No.60
The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967 X) is published Monday through
Friday during the Fall and Winter terms. Subscription rates: September
through April - $18.00 in Ann Arbor; $35.00 outside the city. One term -
$10.00 in town; $20.00 out of town.
The Michigan Daily is a member of The Associated Press and Sub-
scribes to United Press International, Pacific News Service, Los Angeles
Times Syndicate, and College Press Service.

we


Open Bowling Hours
monday - friday
9am -6pm
after 9:15pm

z

Numbers of homeless
increase in many cities

Saturday

' sunday
9am - 5.30pm
after 8:30pm

(Continued from Page 1)
street," said the Rev. Carl Resener,
director of the Nashville Union
Mission in the city's downtown.
"Ten blocks from here you can rent
an apartment for $300," he added.
"There's no such thing for the people!
on the streets."
Unemployment puts people out on
the streets in depressed areas and
swamps places where there are jobs
with hopeful transients, social
workers noted.
"I SAW IT happen in Houston when
everyone was moving there," said the
Rev. Richard Brand, associate
minister of the First Presbyterian
Church in Raleigh, N.C. "Then I
came to Raleigh and now it is hap-
pening here. People hear about
Raleigh and read about our 2 per-
cent unemployment and they've been
out of a job for months. They're
coming."
The national unemployment rate
stood at 7.1 percent for October, but it

was much higher among some groups
breaking down to 15 percent for
blacks, 11.3 percent for Hispanics,
and 20.1 percent among teen-agers.
And the figures don't include those so
discouraged they have given up
seeking work.
In Chicago, where the September
unemployment rate for the
metropolitan area was 8.4 percent,
Edens cited a lack of programs to
help the poor develop job skills as one
reason for the increase in the number
of homeless.
"We offer survival kits _-food and
bankets - instead of giving them
mending kits so they can get jobs and
education and re-enter society," said
Resener.
Some of the homeless migrate
South in the fall to avoid Northern
winters, adding to the problems in
areas like Southern California,
Arizona, and Florida.
Shelter operators in Phoenix and
Tucson, Ariz., report that they
already are filled to capacity even
though the seasonal influx of
homeless people from colder climates
is far from over.
"They're coming in every night.
The numbers are rising," said Art
Sage, assistant supervisor of Central
Arizona Shelter Services in Phoenix.
"You can put up as many shelters as
you want and there still won't be
enough."

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Editor in Chief.................NEIL CHASE
Opinion Page Editors.......... JODY BECKER
JOSEPH KRAUS
Managing Editors.......GEORGEA KOVANIS
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