Reforming the US Corporate Tax

The mainstay of federal business taxation, the US corporate income tax, is riddled with distortions and inequities. As a means of taxing the richest Americans--a popular goal--the corporate income tax is a hopeless failure. Many companies pay no corporate tax, and among those that do, the burden is highly uneven. Meanwhile, the richest Americans command income from numerous sources besides corporate dividends. The distortions and inequities are amazing. Under pressure from business lobbies, Congress legislates deductions and exemptions that twist the corporate tax base far from any plausible financial definition; then Congress enacts "targeted" tax credits to carry out ersatz industrial policies. Faced with a tax terrain of mountains and ravines, corporations employ armies of lawyers and accountants to devise avoidance strategies. This book proposes to replace the corporate income tax with a tax that has a much broader base at a much lower rate. Two alternatives are explored: the National Retail Sales Tax (NRST) and the Corporate Activity Tax (CAT). To address the issue of regressivity, both alternatives are coupled with measures to preserve the real spending power of households at the lowest income levels.

Information Flow Analysis and the Theory of the Firm

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113133/1/mde2676.pd

Senator Kerry on Corporate Tax Reform: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription

Senator John Kerry has proposed a major overhaul in corporate taxation, with the goal of persuading multinational companies (MNCs) to employ more workers at home and fewer abroad. Kerry has correctly emphasized that domestic production is often taxed at a higher rate than production abroad, but his prescriptions will not boost US jobs.

Tyrosinase and phenolic pressor amines

Basic to the consideration of the action of tyrosinase on the oxidation of phenolic pressor amines are the observations of Keilin and Mann (16) and of Nelson and his coworkers (17-19) that show that different preparations may vary considerably in their relative actions on monophenols and o-diphenols. Both of these types of activity appear to belong to the same enzyme complex, as they bear a proportionality to the same copper content. However, since the activities vary with the purity and method of purification, each enzyme preparation must be defined in terms of both monophenolase and o-diphenolase activities. This was done in the present studies, and modifications of previously described preparative methods were required to retain a reasonable proportioning of such activities in purified preparations

History of the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association

The history of the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association is reviewed, beginning with the organizing of the Kay County Corn Grower's Association in 1901,., In 1909 this county organization was reorganized on a state-wide basis and was called the Oklahoma Corn Clubo In 1912 this organization changed its name to the Oklahoma Seed Grower 1s Associationo This was due to the increasing demand for improved seed and information on various other crops besides corn. The name of the group vm.s changed to Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association in 1922& The Association was officially incorporated under the laws of Oklahoma in 1930. At that time the Association underwent a major reorganization, adopting a new set of by-laws which are still in use today. During 1937: the Oklahoma State Certification Seed Law, House bill No., 513, was passed by the Legislature. This provided for the certification of seed and plant parts intended for sale or for propagation. The authority for such certification was placed-with Oklahoma A. & M. College or its legal representative. The Association was appointed by the College as the legal organization to certify crops in Oklahoma. In 1939 the Association began the Approved Origin of Alfalfa program. This program was set up because Oklahoma alfalfa seed had been unjustly ruled ineligible for payments in the north-central region by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration., Oklahoma had developed a good w2rket in this area for its alfalfa seed and to lose out would have been a serious blow to Oklahoma alfalfa producers .. However, Oklahoma seed was declared eligible for AAA paynents following the submission of a petition to the AAA by the Association. Through this approved origin program the Association was able to establish a stable financial system. In 1949 the Foundation Seed Stocks, Inc. was established for the purpose of controlling the propagation and distribution of foundation seed stock. This is a separate organization from the Association but the two work very closely together.Agronom

Erosion Control During Highway Construction: Volume 1

Summary: Highway constuction as we know it today is a high-risk activity with respect to engendering soil erosion. In earlier days of road building, when rights-of-way were generally narrow and excavations mostly shollow, erosion was rarely a serious problem. Only occasionally was it considered necessary to design and apply specific measures for erosion control. With the advent of the superhighway involving far greater widths of right-of-way, and much deeper disturbance of the natural ground to affort the horizontal and vertical highway geometry necessary for high-speed travel, came a several fold increase in erosion potential and a direct need for specific action aimed at its control. Highway engineers have reacted by revising contruction specifications to include many protective measures. In creaseing public awareness of the desireability of protecting the environment has been a source of both support and pressure in the application of erosion control in highway construction. Although improvement has been significant, unwanted soil erosion and accompanying sedimentation resulting from highway construction activity continue to be problems. A lack of knowledge within the highway industry of improved erosion control measures developed outside the industry, perhaps some resistance to change because of a lack of familiarity with erosion control measures, and in some instances a need for information not now available anywhere, are probably the major contributors to continuation of the problem. The present project was directed at improving erosion control practice in highway construction by providing assistance in all three of the foregoing areas contributory to the problem. The principal output of the study is a MANUAL of erosion control principles and practices. The MANUAL focuses on techniques for predicting the erosion potential of highway construction sites, and for estimating the effectiveness of various erosion control measures. A wide variety of control measures are listed and described, and information that will aid in selecting measures to meet specific site requirements is presented. Design standards for control measures, and information on such matters as size selection for mechanical control measures, are not included in the MANUAL because these are already widely available in highway engineering offices. To develop the erosion control MANUAL on which the project effort was centered, means had to be established for estimating the water and wind soil erosion potentials on highway construction sites and the effectiveness of various measures that might be considered for controlling the erosion. The universal soil loss equation

Fielding Ditch Pipeline Computer Simulation Study

The Fielding Ditch Company Pipeline is almost 3 miles long and supplies irrigation water under low pressure to adjacent fields through 33 turnouts along its length. The 24-inch non-reinforced concrete pipeline began to experience repeated structural failures soon after it was placed in operation. This study was done for the Soil Conservation Service by the Utah Water Research Laboratory to gather field data on the pipeline operating characteristics, to analyze the hydraulic transients in the pipeline with the help of a computer simulation model, and to suggest modification to protect the pipeline from future failures caused by transient pressures. Following a description of the pipeline system, the concepts and principles of unsteady flow in pipelines are summarized. Then the general equations for transient flow are presented followed by a summary of their solution using numerical methods. Under the field verification data collection program, instruments and recorders were set up at four locations along the pipeline. Pressure and flow measurements during both steady and unsteady flows were recorded to obtain data on the operating characteristics of the pipeline. These field data as well as preliminary analysis indicate that moderate closure times of valves could generate pressure waves which could overstress the non-reinforced concrete pipe. The field data also provided a way to verify that the computer simulation model could truly represent the behavior of the actual pipeline system. The field data also shoed the pressure wave speed to be about 1170 feet per second rather than 3640 feet per second predicted by the wave speed equations. This significant change in wave speed was attributed to the effect of free air trapped in pipe joints and high spots in the pipeline. Seven increasingly complex computer models were developed to represent the pipeline. The first was a simple basic water hammer program for a pipe with a reservoir upstream and a valve at the downstream end which could close instantly. Later programs added the effects of air pockets along the pipeline, damping or dissipation at the air pockets, gradual closure of the downstream valve, gradual closure of a valve at an interior point, simultaneous closure of two valves and provision for protective standpipes at any or all interior valve locations. Comparisons of the final programs with field data showed the system to be adequately represented. The computer programs were then used to compare the effectiveness of various proposed protective modifications to the pipeline. Modifications considered but not recommended included requiring a longer valve closure time (not fail safe), installation of pressure relief valves (not reliable), and installation of air chambers at each valve (not economical). The recommended pipeline modification was to install eleven 18-inch pressure relief standpipes at selected interior turnout locations and one 36-inch standpipe at the downstream end. The study showed that the spillage at the standpipes to an acceptable amount. Smaller 2- or 3-inch diameter standpipes should also be installed at all other turnouts to release trapped air and to serve as indicators (to nearby valve operators) or too rapid closure of the valves

Management of the Great Salt Lake: A Research Plan and Strategy

The primary purposes of this report are to indicate the following two research items in connection with the management of the water resource system of the Great Salt Lake:\ 1. Research needs and priorities. 2. A research coordination strategy. Research needs are identified by the report in terms of (1) various management, or use, categories (such as lake industries), and (2) the need to understand the physical characteristics of the lake system itself. The research needs are identified in each category as information (including data) or understanding gaps, in cases where there seems to be sufficient information, a research need is assumed not to exist. In the case of the Great Salt Lake system, the development of a management plan is still in the early stages, so that research needs are not prioritized in terms of a specific plan. However, the various research needs are grouped into four broad categories in terms of priority levels for pro viding planners with the needed information to proceed logically with the development of a management plan which of necessity will by dynamic in terms of changing social needs and priorities. In order for research to develop information about the lake system in accordance with management needs and priorities, a research coordination procedure is proposed. The objective of this procedure is to coordinate research between carious funding sources and research organizations and groups

Enemies of Aspen

So long as aspen was considered primarily a weed species, there was little concern over the enemies which might injure or destroy it. Sometimes these enemies were actually considered blessings in disguise. Now, however, that aspen not only is the most abundant but also one of the most widely utilized tree species in the Lake States, there is increasing interest in anything that may affect its future supply. For that reason this brief summary of information on the enemies of aspen has been assembled