What was going on when I was born?

If the emerging efforts in Washington to overhaul the Federal tax system prove successful, they would almost certainly bring in their wake a profound upheaval in state and local tax systems, according to state finance officials and outside experts. The Treasury Department this week completed a detailed proposal to rebuild the income tax system by lowering tax rates but eliminating many deductions and exemptions. The proposals were requested by President Reagan in his State of the Union Message last January and may well form the basis of the tax legislation the President has pledged to introduce early next year. The plan is intended to be revenue neutral - that is, neither to increase nor to decrease overall Federal tax receipts - but the proposals under discussion imply a sharp increase in the cost of financing local government, most experts say. Impact on States Could Vary To the extent that new Federal regulations lessen the deductibility of income taxes, property taxes and sales taxes levied by states and localities, it would increase their sting. Residents of states that impose relatively high taxes would feel that burden more keenly, while those of other states would benefit from the Federal changes without suffering an offsetting local impact.

''There is a huge amount of this stuff. This is dangerous material.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, a holiday that has sustained memories of the first settlers of New England, plans were announced today for a voyage to remind Britons and Americans once more that the Pilgrims didn't get there first. The voyage will be made next year by a replica of the Godspeed, one of three vessels that crossed the Atlantic in 1607, 13 years before the Mayflower, carrying the founders of Jamestown. The ship will be manned by a volunteer American crew of 12 under the command of George C. Salley, a 51-year-old computer scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, whose regular job involves helping to plan the first permanent colony in space. Virginians have always considered the Pilgrims as Johnny-come-latelies who get all the attention in the history books because of Miles Standish and Plymouth Rock and Thanksgiving. In Britain, birthplace of both bands of settlers, the name of Jamestown is practically unknown.

White House officials said tonight that Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromkyo of the Soviet Union were close to an agreement to meet in early January in Geneva to discuss arms control and other issues. An annoucement is expected in the next few days, after the last details are resolved, the officials said. The idea for the Shultz-Gromyko meeting evolved from discussions held by the two sides in recent weeks, officials said. Konstantin U. Chernenko, the Soviet leader, proposed in a letter to President Reagan last Saturday that Mr. Shultz and Mr. Gromyko get together at an early date, officials said.

Since the death of Leonid I. Brezhnev two years ago, the six Eastern European members of the Warsaw Pact have been living through what they see as an extraordinary period of uncertainty and weakness at the summit of power in Moscow. The 15-month reign of Yuri V. Andropov briefly excited hopes in independent-minded Hungary for economic liberalization in the Soviet bloc, and raised fears of the same thing among the hard-liners who rule Czechoslovakia. Mr. Andropov, a former ambassador to Hungary, was perceived here as sensitive to the need for updating a Soviet economic model, based on regional self-sufficiency, that many Eastern European economists regard as condemning their countries to stagnation and possibly unrest. Ideological Discipline Stressed The nine months of incumbency of Mr. Andropov's successor, the 73-year- old Konstantin U. Chernenko, have been characterized by a Moscow-directed attempt to tighten ideological discipline and economic ties within the Warsaw Pact. Its principal victim has been Erich Honecker, the East German leader, who appears to have badly misread the power relationships in Moscow as he embarked on a bold move to improve relations with West Germany.

Good morning and take heed: The voice of hope is about to start his day. ''People outside this city want to believe that this is a place of despair and that it is self-willed, that people here will to be lazy, will to be unemployed. Bunk. Bunk. In truth, they will against incredible odds to dance the dance of hope, to sing that song of life.'' He is speaking here to the doomsayers, telling them, as he always does, that the statistics of violence and neglect notwithstanding, this often troubled place is, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, ''a city not forsaken.''

A panel of scientific and technical experts today endorsed the evolving plan to destroy most of the Army's its vast, aging stock of chemical weapons. But the group urged that it be done as soon as possible to reduce any risk that leaks or explosions might endanger the public health. The panel cited estimates that it could cost $2 billion to $4 billion and take 10 to 20 years to destroy 90 percent of the stockpile. ''There is a huge amount of this stuff,'' said Robert W. Buchheim, a former arms control official who is a member of the panel, the National Research Council. ''This is dangerous material. It was designed to be dangerous. It is very dangerous.''

SOMETIMES it seems that parents dread the prospect of school vacations as much as their offspring relish it. That's especially true at Christmas, when children may be at home for two weeks or more. Parents have hectic schedules, and children have high expectations of good times. Fortunately, a host of New York City private schools, Y's, neighborhood organizations, museums and sports groups sponsor special programs that will entertain children during the holiday period. Full-day programs may be of particular interest to working parents. Others offer activities that families can enjoy together. Following is a selected list of programs in Manhattan and other boroughs. In most cases parents are expected to provide transportation and to send a bag lunch along with their children, although transportation for special trips may be provided. Interested parents should enroll children now, because space is limited and many programs fill up quickly.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1984 The Economy The Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a half point, to 8 1/2 percent, apparently reflecting the perception that the weakening economy had become a more urgent problem than inflation. The decline in the Fed's basic charge on loans to financial institutions was the first since the beginning of the economic recovery. (Page A1.) Consumer prices rose four-tenths of 1 percent last month, the same as in September. Economists viewed the report as confirmation that inflationary pressures continued in check. (D1.) In the New York area, prices decreased 0.1 percent. (D3.)

Orders to factories for ''big ticket'' durable goods declined a sharp 4.1 percent in October, a new sign of weakness in the national economy, the Commerce Department reported today. Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige said the decline, the steepest since last April, amounted to ''paying the piper'' for the high-valued dollar. A private economist agreed that orders from overseas companies were being lost because of the currency exchange rate.

The Labor Department reported today that consumer prices rose four-tenths of 1 percent last month, the same as in September. Economists viewed the report as fresh confirmation that inflationary pressures continued in check. The latest increase in the Consumer Price Index, the most widely followed gauge of inflation, was attributed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to a mixture of rises and declines in various categories but mainly to higher gasoline prices for the second consecutive month. Some analysts said, however, that the gasoline run-up would prove temporary and that declines would occur by year-end, reflecting recent softness in prices of crude oil.

Because of an editing error, a dispatch from San Salvador on Tuesday about a court action clearing an officer in the slayings of a Salvadoran land program official and two United States labor advisers misstated the date of the killings. It was Jan. 3, 1981.