i
LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 30, 1998 - 5
.. tM
AP PHOTO
Gov. Engler's wife Michelle claps as she listens to her husband give a speech on the State
of the State last night.
BLUE
Continued from Page 1
You grab the blue envelope, tear it open and start reading.
The voices you heard were just a couple of regents heading to
the bedroom to hook up, so you relax and examine your prize.
It's from the athletic department! And there are two docu-
ments!
The first is a contract between the department and a major
shoe company. It stipulates that, "in the interests of higher edu-
cation, this shoe company will make a lot of clothes and give
them only to big, strong people. Those people must wear them
at all times and everywhere. When walking on campus, the big,
strong people must wear at least three articles of the clothing
(with logos) - or risk losing their privileges to free stuff at
local eateries."
Finding this very interesting, you flex and find you are not
big and strong. You get mad and look at the other document, a
list of names.
The first name is: Marlin Ed. Next to his name is the title:
"Friend of the Program." At first, you think this means he gets
invited over to the house to drink a lot. Then, you realize he
owns a lot of cars.
But since you have a deadline approaching, you can only
investigate one list. Which will it be? The shoe company or the
booster?
Choose SHOES, This Page, or CARS, Page 7
MAIZE
Continued from Page 1
You grab the maize envelope, tear it open and start reading.
The voices you hear were just the president and an intern head-
ing to the bedroom to hook up, so you relax and examine your
prize.
It's about student government! And it's a list of the assem-
bly's accomplishments!
But you're confused. It's only one page, torn out of a
Franklin Planner and it's only a couple of lines long. You
search for the rest of the document, rummaging through the
refrigerator, but don't find anything.
All that you see on the single page is this: "First, we got the
library to be open longer. Oh, and we did some fact-finding
missions! Didn't we do a lot, Mr. President? How about a law
school recommendation?"
Just then, you notice that the intern the president is with is
not very attractive.
You think he could have done much better. But there is no
time for that now.
You have to decide, because a deadline is approaching,
which accomplishment you will investigate. Library or fact-
finding ?
SHOES
Continued from This Page
Now that you think about it, you've
always wanted to have free clothes. So
you decide to look into the shoe com-
pany.
One of your friends interned at
"Saturday Night Live" and had an old
"Hans and Frans" costume at his house,
and you promptly put it on before walk-
ing down to the athletic campus.
You walk up to the football equip-
ment manager, grunt, grab yourself and
ask for some clothes. He asks what
sport you play. For authenticity, you
grunt again.
Duhhh2 you mumble, "coach for-
got to tell me."
"Oh," he says, "you play football.
Here."
He gives you an elephant's sweatsuit,
size-14 shoes and a book titled, "The
Alphabet and You: How to learn while
eating soup at training table." That's
when an attractive member of the oppo-
site sex walks by. The person sees that
you are wearing free, new clothes from
a major shoe company and promptly
asks you out.
On your first date, things are going
great until one of your muscles deflate.
You end up alone, but you are happy.
You have free clothes.
STATE
Continued from Page 1.
Seeking to build on such tax cuts, Engler
urged the legislature to pass an amendment
to the state constitution making it more diffi-
cult to increase taxes.
"Remember the higher taxes and failed
policies of the '80s?" Engler said. "I do -
and we're not going back. ... I propose a con-
stitutional amendment that would require a
three-fifths vote of both the House and
Senate to raise taxes."
Engler, who is expected to seek a third
term in office, said he plans to cut income
taxes five times over the next five years. Rep.
Rory Roberts said such a move will continue
to improve Michigan's economy.
"Tax cuts are the policy of John Engler,"
Roberts said. "It's not a coincidence tax cuts
work. It's proven to be effective."
But Rep. Mary Schroer (D-Ann Arbor)
said the proposed $3 billion income tax cut
could potentially cripple the $8 billion dollar
annual budget.
"The governor is apparently having a
tough time with simple math,' Schroer said.
During his hour-long speech, Engler also
stressed the importance of protecting the
environment through additional funding.
"While our record of achievement is
impressive, the time is right to take the next
step," Engler said. "Tonight, I propose that we
invest $500 million more to make Michigan
even cleaner. ...The bottom line: This initia-
tive means cleaning up our water, fixing up
our cities and sprucing up our parks."
Though Engler did not mention the com-
ing gubernatorial election this fall, House
minority leader Ken Sikkema (R-Kent) said
Engler's ambitious speech should help him
win the fall contest.
"This is the boldest agenda he's estab-
lished in eight years," Sikkema said. "We
really have an energized Republican party
because of an energized agenda."
Cho
Ruling may benefit students
M
By Christine M. Paik
Daily Staff Reporter
A new ruling by the Internal Revenue
Service may return millions of dollars
to students who were employed by their
colleges or universities.
Revenue Procedure 98-16 clarifies
an earlier provision in the federal tax
code. The code exempted students who
'were employees of their school from
paying the 7.65 percent Federal
Insurance Contribution Act tax, which
includes money for Social Security and
Medicare. But it did not specify how
many class credits and work hours were
necessary to qualify for the exemption.
It is expected that this new ruling,
which now clearly defines the terms of
student exemption as an undergraduate
or graduate student who is enrolled at
'least part-time, will return millions to
these students regardless of the number
of hours they worked.
John Vereeke, payroll manager at the
University payroll office, said the rul-
ing sets new beneficial guidelines for
higher education institutions around the
nation. Previously, each university set
HELLO,
UNIVERSITY.
ARE YOU
AWAKE? WELL,
WAKE UP,
DAMMIT. AT
LEAST FINISH THE
CROSSWORD
BEFORE YOU GO
BACK TO SLEEP.
their own qualifications as to who
would be FICA-exempt.
"This is very reasonable," Vereeke
said. "There is now a standard guideline
for all universities to follow. I think this
will be better in that everyone will be
judged the same."
The University currently allows all
students who are registered, meaning
they have at least one credit, to be
FICA-exempt. The ruling, if imple-
mented, will benefit only those students
who are taking six credits or more.
"I think it will affect very few
University students," said Tom Butts,
associate vice president for government
relations. "Students here have always,
since 1937, been exempt from paying the
tax. And even though students now have
to be taking at least six credits, we have
very few students that are here part-time"
Butts said the University is discussing
the new ruling and has just begun to ana-
lyze it. He said although the new criteria
raises the credit requirement, the change
in the work hour requirement to unlimited
hours is advantageous. Previously, many
universities limited work hours to 20
hours a week in order to qualify for FICA
exemption.
"Of course we're disappointed that
now students have to be taking six cred-
its instead of one," Butts said. "But
now, students can be tax-exempt even if
they are working more than 20 hours.
Students here hold multiple jobs, so the
20-hour restriction was unreasonable."
LSA sophomore Kori Summers, who
has been working at the Hatcher
Graduate Library since Fall term, said
she does not feel the ruling is significant.
"I heard something about this earlier
this month, but I didn't pay too much
attention to it," Summers said. "I don't
even know what it's all about."
Summers, who is currently carrying
15 credits, will most likely not be
affected by the rulings if they are imple-
mented. She did say, however, that she
feels the ruling is negative.
"I think its bad if people are going to
school and they can't afford to pay the
tax,' Summers said. "If they're trying to
take classes they shouldn't be prohibit-
ed just because they have to pay the
government."
ose LIBRARY, Page 2, or FACTS, Page 7
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