Page 4-Tuesday, August 4, 1981--The Michigan Daily
Senate formally OKs
Reagan's tax cut bill,
House nod expected
In Brief
Compiled from Associated Press and
United Press International reports
WASHINGTON (AP)-After rebuf-
fing a last-gasp protest from Sen. Ed-
ward Kennedy, the Senate passed 67 to
8 yesterday a compromise version of
President Reagan's tax cut and sent it
to the House for a final vote that would
put the landmark measure on the chief
executive's desk.
The House was scheduled to vote
today on the bill, the largest tax cut in
history and the cornerstone for the
president's economic recovery
program. Reagan could sign it later in
the day, or, more likely, tomorrow.
THE COMPROMISE version of the
bill, which will cut business and in-
dividual taxes by $749 billion through
1986, was approved 67-8 after Kennedy
(D-Mass.) tried and failed to delete
some of its special breaks for the oil in-
dustry.
House approval, considered certain,
will send Congress off on a five-week
recess.
The heart of the bill is a three-step
permanent reduction in individual tax
rates, with rich and poor alike getting
virtually the same 25 percent cut. Star-
ting in 1985, taxes would be cut
automatically each year to help offset
inflation of the previous year.
THE PERSONAL tax cuts will be felt
slightly in the first paychecks received
after Oct. 1. Bigger reductions in the
amounts withheld from paychecks will
follow on July 1 and a year later.
Also in the measure are extra relief
for 17 million working couples who are
taxed more than if they were single;
liberalized incentives for retirement
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JL
Kennedy
... fails in final maneuver
savings; new investment tax breaks
benefitting mainly higher income
Americans; greater tax benefits for
child-care expenses; lower taxes for
U.S. citizens working abroad;
elimination of estate taxes for all but
the wealthiest Americans and steep
reductions in business taxes.
REFLECTING Reagan's contention
that investment by upper-income tax-
payers is needed to spur the economy,
32 percent of the personal tax cut will go
to those earning $50,000 a year or more.
They pay 33.8 percent of the tax burden.
Democrats say the bill shortchanges
a majority of taxpayers-those with in-
comes under $20,000-who are hurt
most by rising Social Security taxes
and inflation.
But all that was overshadowed
yesterday by another chapter in the
long-running Senate battle over tax
benefits for the oil industry. The bill
earmarks an estimated $32 billion to $33
billion in special tax relief over the
decade for oil producers and royalty-
owners.
Rebel troops attempt to
oust Bolivian president
LA PAZ, Bolivia - Rebel troops took control of the provincial capital of
Santa Cruz yesterday in the fourth attempt since spring to oust President
Luis Garcia Meza, according to rebel broadcasts.
There was no report of bloodshed in the takeover of the country's second-
largest city, about 350 miles southeast of here. The attempted coup was led
by two exiled army officers demanding that Garcia Meza turn power over to
Bolivia's three-man military junta.
Garcia Meza, who seized power in a coup a year ago, was tending to his
normal duties, a presidential spokesman said. The commanders of the ar-
med forces, who make up the junta, were meeting, a source at Army
Headquarters here said. There was no word on their discussions.
Leading the attempt were former army chief of staff Lucio Anez Rivero
and former President Alberto Natusch Busch, who ruled for 15 days after a
military coup in November 1979.
Hundreds of Panamanians
mourn passing of Torrijos
PANAMA CITY, Panama - Hundreds of mourners, some weeping, filed
past the closed, flag-draped wooden casket of Gen. Omar Torrijos yesterday
to pay homage to the man who won the battle for Panamanian ownership of
the Panama Canal.
The 52-year-old leader - killed with six others when his plane crashed
into a jungle hillside Friday - had run this Central American country as
commander-in-chief of the powerful national guard after a 1968coup.
Early yesterday, his body was taken from Paitilla Medical Center
carried through the city in a black hearse at the head of a procession, and
was placed on a bier in the Metropolitan Cathedral.
Sources in the national guard said the general's remains were burned so
badly identification had been made from awatch and blood type.
The funeral was scheduled for this morning, to be attended by foreign
leaders and representatives, including a delegation from the United States.
The national guard and government leaders chose Col. Florencio Flores,
the guard's chief-of-staff, to succeed Torrijos. But foreign diplomats here
were predicting a power struggle after the funeral.
"The government was not ready for this and neither was the op-
position," said Foreign Minister Jorge Illueca. "The country is not ready for
this."
Federal jury convicts
2 in bribery scheme
NEW ORLEANS - Reputed Mafia boss Carlos Marcello and former
Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Charles Roemer were convicted
yesterday by a federal jury of conspiracy in a state insurance bribery
scheme.
The jury acquitted the other two defendants. The verdicts came after the
jury had deliberated 15 hours at the end of a 19 week trial.
The count on which Roemer and the 71-year-old Mrcello were convicted
carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and a $25,000 fine.
Roemer, 58, was once the state's chief administrator after the governor,
I. Irving Davidson, 59, a Washington lobbyist, and New Orleans lawyer Vin-
cent Marinello, 43, were acquitted.
July marketbasket increase
smaller than June rise
Higher prices for butter, eggs and pork chops helped boost grocery bills
last month, but the July increase was smaller than the June rise, an
Associated Press marketbasket survey shows.
Declining coffee prices helped offset some of the increases and there
were scattered bargains on frankfurters for summer barbecues.
The AP drew up a list of commonly purchased food and non-food items,
selected at random, and checked prices on March 1, 1973 at one supermarket
in each of 13 cities. Prices of the 14 items have been rechecked on or about
the start of each succeeding month.
Among the highlights of the latest survey:
" The marketbasket bill went up during July at the checklist store in six
cities. It went down in another six cities and was unchanged in one. On an
overall basis, the marketbasket bill at the start of August was four-tenths of
a percent higher than it was a month earlier. During June, the marketbasket
bill rose an average of 1.3 percent.
e Comparing prices today with those a year ago, the AP found the
marketbasket bill at the checklist stores rose an average of only 1.9 percent.
Price decreases in February, March, April, and May helped keep down the
12-month rise.
" The price of a pound of butter went up in July at the checklist store in
six of the cities surveyed and eggs increased in price in nine cities. Pork
chops went up in seven cities.
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