Masonry Magazine June 1974 Page. 20
Use the system that works best for you!
BLOK-TRUS
ADJUSTABLE ECONO-LOK®
STONE-LOK TH
TYPE S ADJUSTABLE TIE
BLOK-TITE CONTROL JOINT
AA
WIRE PRODUCTS COMPANY
BLOK-LOK
All AA Wire reinforcing and wall tie systems save labor costs. Many of them solve other mason problems such as Adjustable Econo-Lok for tying together double walls where the joints don't line up. Then there's Stone-Lok the fast way to tie random shaped stone to a backup wall. Select the system that saves you more money and speeds your jobs. Send for your handy free Guide to AA systems.
AA Wire Products Company, 6100 South New England Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60638.
CONGRESS PLANS TO RESTRICT TAX WRITE-OFFS for business use of homes.
The House Ways and Means Committee has decided to take action in this area. In the future, such deductions would have to meet two critical conditions:
* A room or section must be kept exclusively for business use. Pro rata deductions for rooms partly used would be banned.
* A home-office set-up must be a firm condition of employment. This is designed to overturn a recent Tax Court ruling, which allowed a write-off deemed "appropriate and helpful."
CONGRESS WILL SOON SUBJECT TAX-RETURN PREPARERS to broad regulation.
The plan will require preparers to turn over certain information to the IRS. Substantial penalties will be imposed on those firms that fail to comply. The lawmakers are acting in response to very widespread reports of abuses. Some preparers have guaranteed clients a tax refund, regardless of income. Others have given immediate, though discounted, refunds to their clients only to collect the full refund for themselves from Internal Revenue later.
Preparers would have to keep copies of clients' returns for three years. These returns would have to be available on request to IRS. A tax-preparing company must file annual lists of preparers to allow IRS to trace unethical ones.
LEGISLATION TO STRENGTHEN CONSUMER WARRANTIES will be voted in 1974.
The House is ready to pass a bill requiring fuller disclosure fairly soon. A measure basically similar to the House bill has already passed the Senate. The Federal Trade Commission would set new standards for product warranties. It would outline rules requiring guarantees to be clear and understandable.
The legislation will not force any company to issue product warranties. But those choosing to do so will have to meet the Commission's requirements. Persons damaged for breach of product warranties could initiate class-action lawsuits.
A ROLLBACK OF CRUDE OIL PRICES MAY SOON BE ORDERED by the government.
The Federal Energy Administration is now setting up new regulatory machinery that could lead to substantial slashes, retroactive to October of last year. Since businesses are by far the principal users of all forms of distillates, the coming price cuts could well mean tidy reductions in operating costs.
FEA has some evidence that unjustifiable price increases were imposed by some domestic oil importers as well as the international oil companies. Accounting methods show some firms paying more for foreign oil than they were. So new rules will limit companies to certain types of accounting.
But it could be late this year before any price roll-backs are ordered. The government needs time to analyze data.
THE ENERGY SHORTAGE WILL SOON BRING CHANGES in local building codes.
Within two years, major revisions will require more efficient use of fuels. A national set of standards is currently in the final stages of drafting. The U.S. Bureau of Standards prepared a first