8A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 16, 1998 NATION/WORLD Complex tax form confuses citizens Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON -- As the final crush of Americans rushed yesterday to stuff mailboxes with their 1997 tax returns, few forms were drawing more anger and exasperation than Schedule D. the capital gains form, whose labyrinthine steps would challenge Theseus, the maze-conquering hero of Greek myth. Taxpayers can thank the 1997 tax law for creating the new Schedule D by establishing four - count em, four -- tax rates for capital gains, which are the profits from sale of stock, real estate and other assets. The capital gains form, which has metastasized from a one-page, 19-line form to a two-page, 54-step Rube Goldberg machine of higher mathematics, is so complex that even the people who wrote the law are tossing up their hands. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas), who always.brags that he does his own taxes, for the first time resorted to a computer program to prepare them this year, his spokesperson said. And unfortunately, a lot of people who should have filed Schedule D didn't realize it. The Internal Revenue Service is sending back more than 1 million returns because they failed to include Schedule D. That's an unusually hefty chunk of the 20 million or so people who were expected to report capital gains this year. Republicans around the country honored the feder- al tax filing deadline yesterday with news conferences and events to call for abolishing the tax code and replacing it with a simpler, fairer system. But GOP fingerprints are all over the 1997 tax law, which is responsible for not only Schedule D but also a host of other new complications in the tax code. Information technology big boost to economy BABY WANTED!!! Ha pily married, childless Michigan grads. an11n11'/j1"t1 l ( A, MBA) seeking to ado pt infant. Please 1 n cgem ent call toll free: 1-888-290-1175, or e-mail us at: philncindy@earthlink.net SPECIAL EGG Ii ADOPTION Loving, college educated couple wishes to adopt. We can provide a child w/ a fine education and beautiful home filled w/ much love & laughter. Please call Cindy & Don 800-33-2116. MICHIGAN PSYCHOANALYTIC FOUNDATION ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC THOUGHTf AND THE SCHOOL OF MUIC UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN "MUSICH LOI MUS E AN D YL OSS"N PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSECTIVES ON AFFECT 17-19 APRIL 1998 Friday, 17 April Rackham auditorium 8:00 P.M. Paper presentation & concert Saturday, 18 April Michigan league 9:0D am. Paper presentations 12:00 p.m. Lunch 1:30 p.m. Plenary session 8:00 p.m. Concert Sunda 19 April Michigan Psychoanalytic Center 90 am. Additional paper presentations For information: Michigan cha ic Center or Tina Goodin Hertel, Ph.D. 734-994-6645.248-988-7224 Friday pin. $50 Saturda $75. Sau av pm. $ 5, Sundly am. No charge, students $50 total NAKED MILE VIDEO/photo it for $$. Pay $$ other runs. 800-546-1150. PARKING SPACES! Avail. at S. University and Washtenaw. Starting May 1st. 663-9217. U OF M HOCKEY garage sale. Sat. April 18900 am. Yost Ice Arena, personal ADOPT: Let us fill your baby's life with love, laughter, the best opportunities & caring grandparents. Mary Ann/Stuart 1-888- 424-3188. ADOPTION Abundant love and guidance will be given to your baby. Let us help you fulfill the dreams & expectations you have for your child. Caring couple w/ much to share is seeking a baby to & nurture. An adoption plan takes courage. Expenses paid. Please call Joan and Bill 1-800-311-7663. Thank you. ATTRACT BEAUTIFUL WOMEN Now! Incredible secrets that may just change your life. Free recorded message reveals amazing details!!!I 1-800-443-2581. DONOR NEEDED Loving infertile couple is hoping to find a compassion- ate woman to help us have a baby. We're hoping for some- one who has blond or brown hair and blue eyes. We'd be delighted to find a healthy, intelligent, college student or graduate. Age 21-30. Thank you for your consider- ation. Compensation up to $5000 plus expenses. If you can help us, please call 1-800-886-9373, ext. 6733. Wayne State University/Hutzel Hospital seeks healthy, non-smoking women, ages 21-35, to participate in our egg donor program. larticipation requires frequent office visits, blood draws, daily injections, ultrasounds, and a minor surgical procedure to remove donated eggs. Process is confidential, financial compensation provided for time and travel expenses. For more information, call 810-558-1119. We want to adopt a baby. Four years ago we were blessed wah the adoption of a beautiful boy. Today we hope to be just as fortunate by locating a birth mother who finds us to be the rig ht family for her baby. My husband and I are both artists and own our own design business. We work at home which allows us tons of time to be together. Our son Tucker very much wants to be a big brother and asked if he could adfopt the baby too. To speak to Tom or Deborah call: 1-888-610-2555 Growth of Internet reducing inflation, creating jobs Los Angeles 'l'imes Computers and the Internet have dra- matically transformed the U.S. econo- my in the last five years, significantly reducing inflation and creating 7.4 mil- lion high-paying jobs, according to a Commerce Department report released yesterday. The report marks the government's most comprehensive look to date at the growth of information technology, and puts a dollar figure on the myriad of advancements that have become a part of everyday life. " achnology is reshaping this econo- my and transforming businesses- and consumers," Commerce Secretary William Daley said. "This is about more than e-commerce, or e-mail, or e- trades, or e-files. It is about the 'e' in in economic opportunity." From word processing and automat- ed inventory controls to supermarket scanners and online shopping, informa- tion technology has boosted productiv- ity for businesses and convenience for consumers. The high-tech industry today accounts for more than 8 percent of the national output of goods and services, with the computer and communications sectors growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy, the report notes. But the benefit is hardly limited to high-tech companies, according to the report, titled "The Emerging Digital Economy." Among the industries investing most heavily in information technology are real estate, radio and television broadcasting, auto repair services and motion picture produc- tion. Nationwide, investments in infor- mation technology account for more than 45 percent of all business equip- ment investment, compared to only 3 percent in the 1960s. In select indus- tries such as communications, insur- ance and financial brokerage houses. three out of every four equipment dol- lars are spent on information technol- ogy, Daley said in a speech to infor- mation technology business people in Washington. That investment is paying off in terms of lower inflation, which would have been 3.1 percent in 1997 instead of the 2 percent rise that was actually recorded, according to the report. In addition, millions of information tech- nology-related jobs pay just under $46,000 per year, compared to an aver- age of $28,000 for the private sector as a whole, the report said. The trend is poised to continue as the Internet spreads to more office desktops. Businesses are using the global computer network to buy sup- plies more cheaply, reduce invento- ries, lower sales and marketing costs and improve their customer service, the report said. Hewlett Packard, for example, has increased productivity and reduced costs by more than 5200 million a year by linking more than 100.000 employ- ees worldwide on an internal network that allows workers to share files, said spokesperson Ann McGrath. Employees also can share information on manufacturing defects and product tests on more than 100 online discus- sion groups, she said. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and equipment giant expects to save up to 70 percent of the - sts associated with paper forms by making personnel policies and payroll forms available online, McGrath said. Money saved from administrative costs can be plowed back into research and develop- ment. At Nike, the phone directory, employee benefits forms, cafeteria menu and conference room schedule are available on Swooshnet, as the com- pany's internal network is known. When an Internet hoax advertised that customers could send in an old pair of smelly sneakers in exchange for a new pair of athletic shoes, Nike diffused the rumor by posting correct information on its World Wide Web site. BENNINGTON. Vt. (AP) -Two wooden crates that arrived unexpect- edly at the Bennington Museum were found to contain seven Grandma Moses paintings that were stolen 14 years ago. Where the artworks have been all this time - and exactly who sent them back and why - are still a mys- tery. "It was someone who honestly loved them and wanted to own them and enjoy them," museum curator Deborah Federhen said. "If they wanted to sell them, they would have broken them up and not kept them as a set of seven but tried to dispose of them one by one." The brightly colored New England landscapes were stolen in 1984 from the Rose Valley, Pa., home of Margaret Carr shortly after the woman's death. She had bequeathed the paintings to the private Bennington Museum. The artworks - whose combined value was estimated by the Bennington museum at $250,000 to S500,000 - were not seen again until they arrived at the museum in February in good shape, still in their original, two-tone painted wooden frames. Each crate contained a cryptic com- puter note in bright purple ink and a hard-to-read typeface. Each tote, inexplicably signed "Ring Sar," lists the names and dates of the pairings and says: "Please send the attached following for a seven-year anonymous loan" - a reference, perhaps, o the seven-year statute of limitatiois for prosecuting the transportatici of stolen property across state lines The museum contacted the FEI, the Pennsylvania State Police and an international registry of lost at in New York City. The New York ga'ery that handles Grandma Moses' etate helped identify the works. The Pennsylvania State Police have reopened the investigation. But the museum's attempts to trae the shipper have been unsuccessfil. The packages were sent by a slpping company from Quakertown, Ia., but the receipt contained a phonr com- pany name and a false fax nunber. After two months in a safb,and 14 years in a place only few crow of, the paintings finally hand on the walls of the Bennington Mseum. "They took the sceni route, Federhen said. Grandma Moses, born Atia Mary Robertson, took up paintig in her late 70s and lived in Eagli Bridge, N.Y., near Bennington. Ms.Carr and her sister became friends with the artist and used to visit her AP PHOTO Seven paintings by Anna Mary Robertson Moses, a.k.a. Grandma Moses, stolen in 1984,were anonymously returned to a Vermont museum yesterday. Stolen Grandma Mosese e pitise deivered to museum '4 SYRACUSE 1 F STUDY ABROAD COMING TO YOUR CAMPUS! Dr. Jim Buschman is available to discuss study abroad through Syracuse University. Visit his table at Michigan Union (lower level) Friday, April 17, 11-3 pm. Or call 800-235-3472 to schedule an appointment between 3-5 pm. " Grants, loans & academic scholarships * Coursework, internships, travel & more ZIMBABWE * ENGLAND " ITALY HONG KONG 9 SPAIN * FRANCE Syracuse University - 119 Euclid Avenue * Syracuse, NY 13244-4170 1-800-235-3472 suabroad@syr.edu -http://sumweb.syr.edu/dipa CiTY LIMiTS Inside the Clarion Hotel 2900 Jackson Rd., Ann Arbor, MI _ OW if ThEIrili la eofred by ROS Ul UERA1Y. Ross University has been educating Medical and Veterinary Medicine Student for more than 20 years and is now accepting applications for enrollment in its 3 caledar year, post-baccalaureate program (DPT), to be established at the Medical Sdiool Campus on the Carribean island of Dominica. . Curriculum will be developed following the American Physical Therapy Associatio guidelines for practice. . Clinical rotations will be developed in U.S. hospitals and other practice sites. . Graduates will be eligible to sit for U.S licensure as foreign educated Physical Thrapists. For more information contact the Student Admissions Office at: ROSS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE! 460 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001 Ph: 212 279-5500. Fax: 212 629-3147 or 268-7767 0 Happy Hour 4:30-7 - No Cover 'till 10 Lady's Nite Friday and Saturday Hrs.: 4:30-2amn Mon-Sat 8-2amn Sun f You're closer to home 0 1 .1 1 - - L _ - . . I