Democratic Candidate Backs Graduated Tax

Leonard Soloman, a Democratic candidate for the 53rd State Representative District, has named taxation, education and welfare programs as the most important issues confronting the electorate today. The 53rd includes most of Ann Arbor. In a position statement Soloman, a teacher at Chelsea, said. "Taxpayers are fed up with the property tax as a means of funding education. I, therefore, favor the graduated income tax because it is more equitable than a flat tax. The theory behind the graduated income tax being the greater the income, the higher proportion of tax. The graduated income tax also will ease the burden on those with low or fixed incomes. "To be acceptable, any graduated income tax adopted must contain the following guarantees: a guarantee that property taxes be limited so that local governments will not step in and raise these taxes thus in effect eliminating the benefit and doubling the tax load; a guarantee that renters will get a reduction which will reflect the landlord's savings; and a guarantee that business will pay its fair share. "I favor using state lottery funds proportionately to the expenditure of funds concurrently in the state budget. For instance, if 50 per cent of the state's revenues is expended for education, then 50 per cent of the lottery would go to the education portion of the budget." Other changes Solomon pro posed for education included a year-round school "whereby students and staff could take one quarter off with no more than one-fourth of the staff and student population out of school at any given time. He also urged greater efforts at preparing children for immediate occupations rather than following college-bound emphasis. "The complex issue of welfare and unemployment can best be treated by providing people who are paid with public funds from these programs and who are able to work with jobs created by state and local governments," he said. Among his proposals are "the establishment of day care centers (which) would permit ADC mothers to seek parttime employment; work-scholarship programs in conjunction with the public schools and community colleges (which) could easily help to retrain people who lack the skills necessary to find jobs. "In order to prevent an increase in the ADC rolls I advocate a compulsory program of birth control. Such a program would include not only the distribution of literature, but the means by which birth control can be effected. I also support liberalization of our state abortion laws as an effective part of this plan." Soloman's statement also said: "Other major concerns are: one's sex, long the subject of discrimination, should not be considered in employment of other social opportunities; victimless crimes, such as the use of marijuana, should be reviewed and reformed in order to make more efective use of police f orces; the elimination of cheap, easily obtained handguns through stricter gun registration and ammunition controls; the control of industrial and agricultural waste must be rigidly and vigorously enforced; the dying urban centers must be vitalized through mass transity programs and redirection of goals for the city centers: legislators must be more accountable to the public for expenses paid by the public on such matters as travel junkets; and public officials must be open to suggestions by constituents so that the people can be more accurately represented." Soloman, 32, will face Marvin D. Carlson, Perry Bullard, Peter Eckstein and Helen J. Forsyth in the Aug. 8 primary for the Democratic nomination in the 53rd District. Soloman lives at 939 Dewey Ave.