The University Daily
KANSAN
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Tuesday, November 16, 1982
Vol. 93, No. 62 USPS 650-640
New form will make figuring taxes less taxing
By JULIE HEABERLIN Staff Reporter
The Internal Revenue Service will bless 20 million college students and other single taxpayers at Christmas time with what may be the largest tax form in history. IRS officials said yesterday.
"It's ideal for the single college student who has traditionally filled out the 1040A form in the past," said Scott Waffle, IRS chief of media relations in Washington, D.C. "The new shorter form has 11 lines compared to the 22 lines of the old form."
MARY E. ANDERSON, a Lawrence accountant, said the new 1040EZ form could be completed in one-third the time taxpayers usually spend filling out the old short form.
However, not all taxpayers who used the 1040A form will be eligible for the shorter form. The 1040EZ form will not eliminate the old short form, but will be packaged with both the 1040A and 1040 forms and mailed to taxpayers in December and January.
"It will especially be helpful for college students with a small savings account or for those who work on salary." Anderson said. "I am very confident that we can require of making less than $40,000 a year."
The taxpayer is single and does not claim exemptions for being 65 or older, or for being blind.
TAXPAYERS ARE eligible for the 1040EZ form if:
- The taxpayer claims only a personal exemption, and no other dependents
- The taxpayer's taxable income is only in
wages, salaries and tips and is less than $50,000 a year.
— The taxpayer has interest of $400 or less, and has no dividend income.
"The new shorter form will save the government about $500,000 in processing costs." Waffle said, "but that's not the main reason for the short form. The IRS commissioner was simply concerned about the growing complexity of the 1040A form."
WAFFLE ALSO SAID using the shorter form would not guarantee a quicker refund to the taxpayer. He said most delays in returning tax refunds were caused by problems in data processing after IRS officials had checked the tax returns.
"But you have to consider that the form will be shorter, so the taxpayer will have less of a
chance to make a mistake." Waffle said. "That has to save us some time."
This year's income tax forms also include for the first time a "marriage credit," which Anderson, of Accounting Specialists, 824 New Hampshire St., said was an attempt to save money from living together; rather than marrying to keep their income tax payments lower.
BECAUSE OF THE pyramid tax structure, married couples often pay higher taxes than do couples who live together and file separate returns. Anderson said.
This year, however, all married couples can pay taxes on a sum less than their total adjusted
For example, one partner may earn $10,000 a year and the other $20,000. Rather than paying $20,000, the other partner might
couple would take 5 percent of the lowest income, $500 in this case, and subtract that figure from the total income. With the new tax rate, you would earn $30,000 pay taxes on only $29,500.
Because of the considerable percentage increases in tax payments in the higher brackets of the tax structure. Anderson said, this tax increase would decrease the same amount in taxes whether married or single.
BUT A KU law professor, Martin Dickinson, said there was no single solution that the government could offer for the millions of individuals filing joint and separate returns.
"I think this year's changes in the income tax forms is the IRS reacting to the impatience of the public," Dickinson said. "They want things to be as simple as possible."
Federal judge decides registration law invalid
By United Press International
LOS ANGELES-A federal judge yesterday ruled the draft registration law is invalid because President Carter's order setting up the process in 1980 was not properly enacted.
In dismiss charges against a young draft registration resister who claimed he was singled out for prosecution because of his vocal dissent, U.S. District Court Jerry Tatter Jr., also cited the Reagan administration's refusal to let defense lawyers see White House and Pentagon documents and question presidential counselor Kevin Moee.
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT attorneys immediately said they would appeal the entire decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Hatter's ruling that the registration law was "illegally promulgated" came as a surprise, initially confusing attorneys and reporters who had covered the case since David Wayte, 21, a former Yale philosophy student from suburban Pasadena was indicted.
The judge agreed with a defense motion claiming the government had waited 21 days instead of the required 30 days from the time the registration law was published in the Federal Register in July 1980 to the time it actually went into effect.
"THIS COURT DOES not agree with the government contention that statements made by President Carter at the time he issued Presidential Proclamation #471 amounted to a clearly articulated and legally sufficient waiver for his comment requirement," the judge said.
"The court recognizes the widespread effect that a decision granting defendant's motion to damise due to the illegal promulgation of the law in our nation's selective Service registration program.
"However, justice compels the court to grant defendant's motion. The preclamation in question was neither expressly nor impLIED punishment from the 50-day notice and comment requirement."
Both the registration law and selective prosecution rulings could jeopardize the cases against several other young men who contend they were singled out for prosecution because they say they exercised their First Amendment rights or proclaimed their opposition to draft registration.
"WHAT THIS MEANS is that all the prosecutions that follow from the same (draft registration) system would be illegal and discriminator if the court's ruling is upheld."
said attorney Mark Rosenbaum, who defended Wayte on behalf of the American Liberties League.
His co-counsel, William Smith, said Hatter's ruling will have "a most psychological effect"
"Every lawyer is going to have a copy of our pleadings and judges will know how Hatter wrote."
Wayne's attorneys earlier focused most of their attention on the claim that the Reagan administration was illegally prosecuting only vocal resisters.
"THE COURT FINDS it hard to believe that the prosecutive arm of the government, with access to Social Security records, could not locate any non-registrants other than those who were vocal in their opposition to draft registration." Hatter said.
The government agreed last month to let Hatter privately study the documents requested by the defense — including memos of meetings attended by Meese where the policy was discussed — but defied his order to turn them over to the defense.
Prosecutors also refused to let Meessey testify, saying it would set a bad precedent because he was known for using excessive force.
"It came out better than I expected because the judge dropped the matter." Wayte said after the hearing. "I think we can win this case on anpeal, also."
HATTER DISMISSED the indictment with prejudice, meaning the government cannot punish someone for a crime.
A crowd of supporters who had packed the courtroom burst into applaud at the end of the baffle.
The judge also noted the government had failed to rebut his preliminary ruling on Sept. 30, when he tentatively held that Wayte was a defendant in the case and it was up to the government to prove otherwise.
Late last month, after privately reviewing the government documents, Hatter ruled that ACLU attorneys had a right to see them and that Meese could not be exempted from testifying in the case. The government announced Nov. 5 it would not comply with the order to surrender the documents, and invited the judge to dismiss charges so it could appeal.
Government officials have insisted that dismissal of the Wayte indictment, one of 13 indictments returned nationwide against about 675,000 young men who have failed to register for the government's policy, no impact on the government's policy because each case is pursued on its own merits.
A wrecked Pontiac lay in a ravine near the East Lawrence turnpike gate early this morning after the three juveniles who were in the car led Kansas Highway patrolmen on a high-speed
chase, which ended when the car became airborne and crashed. The juveniles were taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for treatment.
Youths hurt in high-speed chase
Staff Reporter
By CAROL LICHTI
A high-speed chase involving several Kansas Highway patrolmen and three Independence, Mo., youths in a stolen car ended early this morning when the car became airborne and rolled into the bottom of a ravine near the East Lawrence turnpike exit, troopers said.
The suspects were transported about 12:45 a.m. to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital by Douglas County Ambulance Service. A hospital staff member said that the three youths were in stable condition.
A Patrol dispatcher identified the youths as Highland Mulu, 15, the driver of the car, and passengers Rodney Thurber, 17, and Bryan Harrness, 17.
THE DISPATCHER, Dan Frieden, said the car, a two-window, 1974 Pontiac was stolen in connection with the fire.
The chase began about 12:15 a.m. at the Bonner Spring entrance to Interstate 70 and covered 20 miles in 12 minutes, Friesen said. Three highway patrol cars were involved in the chase.
Police said that at one point the suspects' car was traveling at 105 mph.
Kansas Highway Patrol officers attempted to stop the car for a minor traffic violation on Kansas 7. Instead of stopping, the driver ran the car through a curve and stepped west to the East Lawrence exit, police said.
"THEY TRIED TO run us off the road and everything," State Trooper Timothy Dennis said.
Friesen said, "They attempted to knock a triumphe trooper off the road, but none of our
"The vehicle was traveling too fast to take the exit. It went airborne and crashed because it was too low."
He said that the only apparent reason the youths raced from authorities was because they did not want to be caught with a stolen car. No alcohol or drugs were found in the car, he said.
DENNIS SAID the car was a total loss. He said the inside of the car had been stripped prior to the accident.
Lawrence police assisted the Highway Patrol after the accident occurred. Lawrence Fire Department officials also assisted in bringing the driver to the scene. Police officials said the car was never on fire.
Weather
Astronauts set for today's ride home
Today will be cloudy with a high of 55,
according to the National Weather Service.
Winds will be from the south at 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low in
Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a high in the mid- to upper 50s.
By United Press International
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts, barred from a long-awaited walk in orbit by two puzzling spacesuits and wearing helmets to ride home today and ordered beer and hurriedly back.
Astronauts Vance Brand, Robert Overmery,
Joseph Allen and William Lenox reluctantly
stowed the faulty spacecrafts and prepared for a landing at 8:34 a.m. CST today on a concrete ramp.
Weather forecasts for Edwards at the end of the five-day flight were good, calling for light rain.
CANCELLATION OF THE spacewalk by Allen and Lenoir yesterday — the first attempted by Americans in nine years — was a disappointment, the astronauts said.
Mission controllers called off the venture after hours of salvage efforts. At one point they had considered extending Columbia's flight by one day, but a broken motor in Allen's suit and a high pressure regulator in Lenor's suit were the only problems we walked today to test the new $2 million spacesuits.
But the most important task of the space freighter's first commercial mission — launch-
While the Reverend Homer D. Henderson looked on, Paul Gray and the Gasligh Gang played jazz yesterday at the memorial service for Odd Williams, held at the Plymouth Congregational Church.
Friends bid Williams goodbye
Don Detnhjai/KAMBAN
By BONAR MENNINGER
Staff Reporter
Friends and family said goodbye to Odd Williams yesterday as Dixieland jazz walthed through the hundred-year-old chambers of the Plymouth Congregational Church.
More than 900 people, coming in from the bright, cold day, filled the main floor and balcony of the building for a memorial service for Williams, who died Friday of a heart attack.
Williams, a local businessman and former state senator, helped establish the Williams Educational Fund at the University of Kansas to train Skipper, and his father, Dick He was 56.
After an opening prayer, Rev. Homer D. Henderson led in the singing of "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory," with Paul Gray and the Gaslight Gang providing accompaniment.
Gray and his band had set up near the front of
the church, and played intermittently throughout the service.
They launched into a rousing rendition of "When the Satuts Go Marche In," which was sung by Hector Moreno.
"Today words fail us. One more time, as was in the case of his brother, Skipper — sudden, shocking, unpredicted, indeed — unfair. The moment of death has left us sprightles."
Henderson said he would not dwell on the long list of Williams' achievements.
"Odd Williams had a way with words." Henderson said. "He could tell a great story, he could tell a stupid joke with a twinkle in his eye and a twinkle in his voice, he could make a powerful speech, whether it was persuasive, or an entertaining speech, like the one he made just before he died at the Fabulous Forties homecoming at KU.
"Most of all he kept his word. Words never seemed to fail him, neither did they fail to symbolize the quality, character and spirit of Odd.
Henderson quoted Chancellor Gene A. Budg as saying, "Our lives are richer for having him among us, and we will miss him more than we will know."
The 45-minute ceremony concluded with singing of the "Crimson and the Blue," a song of the University, with organist James C. Moeser and the jazz musicians accompanying.
Some of the music played by Paul Gray and the Gaslight Gang included "Back Home Again in Indiana," "Lady Be Good," "Bourbon Street Parade," and "Jumpin' at the Woodside."
The musical interludes were similar to those performed at the funeral of Skipper Williams, who died in 1974 at the age of 51 following a heart attack.
After the service had ended and the people had tied back onto Vermont Street, Henderson and
"I imagine if he was looking down on this, as always, be he was having a great time here today?"