Masonry Magazine March 1971 Page. 14
Bricklayer Transition Program Underway
The Bricklayer Transition Program is a skill training program offering servicemen about to be separated a pre-apprenticeship course in bricklaying. This program is funded by a $549,000 grant to the National Association of Home Builders, by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International Union and the Mason Contractors Association of America.
The training program is now being conducted at: Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Camp Pendleton, California; Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Treasure Island, California; Fort Devens, Massachusetts; Fort Sill, Oklahoma; Fort Lewis, Washington; Fort Hood, Texas; and one more site to be chosen. The project will provide training for 2,600 servicemen.
The training classes are six weeks in duration at forty hours per week. The project started July 1, 1970 and will continue until August 1972.
Five training sites shall train two hundred and eighty men in fourteen classes of twenty men per class. The other six sites will train two hundred men in ten classes of twenty men per class. Placement of trainees shall be upon separation from active military service, wherever possible, in the city of their choice.
During the period of training the trainee will have received 240 hours of intensive training in the bricklayer trade. The course of study covers method, use of hand tools, mathematics, blueprint reading, and practical experience in the trade. The trainee will possess the basic skills of the craft. Entering the service with little or no civilian-related job skills, he is now both better equipped to make a sound readjustment to the economic life of his community, and able to help you fill your need for skilled labor.
Your cooperation in this program assures this individual of an opportunity to participate in the work
George Romney. Secretary Secretary of HUD, talks with PFC Merrill
Brunner and SP4 Lee Hall as convention director Don
Vaughn stands by.
of his community, and assures you of not only increasing your membership, but also of filling your need for skilled bricklayers.
Your Daily Tax Bite: $3.20
It's easy to see what the term "good old days" means when you look at the history of tax growth in this country, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States points out.
Even the year 1960, when per capita taxes were more than $600, would qualify for this description compared to the present. A National Chamber study shows that in the current fiscal year, governments at all levels will collect an estimated $1,175 in taxes for every man, woman and child. This averages out to more than $3.20 for every calendar day of 1971.
Despite predictions of bankruptcy of our cities and states which bring calls for federal revenue sharing, these smaller political units have been raising taxes at a faster rate than Uncle Sam. Federal taxes, which have doubled in the past 10 years, were surpassed by the two-and-a-half times increase at state and local levels.
Federal income taxes produce the bulk of all tax receipts. In the past fiscal year they totaled $123 billion. This is nearly double the $62 billion collected in 1960 and almost five times the revenue from this source in 1950.
The National Chamber sees a trend toward more municipalities turning to nonproperty taxes as a source of revenue, such as sales or income taxes. About 3,000 local governments are now imposing sales taxes, and 19 cities with populations of over 150,000 are levying one form of income tax or another.
State governments have long used both these taxes as vital ways of raising revenue. At the beginning of 1971, 41 states were imposing personal income taxes, and 45 states had sales taxes. Almost half of this latter group had rates of 4% or higher, and National Chamber tax experts foresee the possibility of some of these rates climbing as high as 9% by 1980.
The property tax provides about 40% of all tax collections of state and local governments, and the demise of this revenue producer is not in sight. A modernized version of this tax, however, could be expected to make property tax systems more equitable and efficient in many of the states.