What was going on when I was born?

Tax Rates Individuals would be taxed at 15, 25 and 35 percent with the top rate falling on income taxable income above $70,000 on joint returns, and above $42,000 on single returns. The tax code now more than a dozen brackets ranging from 11 percent to 50 percent . Corporations, which now pay rates up to 46 percent, would pay graduated rates of 15, 18, 25 and 33 percent. Personal ExemptionTThe figure would rise to $2,000 from $1,040 for the taxpayer and each dependent. Standard deduction would rise to $3,000 for single filers, from $2,390. On joint returns it would increase to $4,000, from $3,540. Interest Expense Mortgage interest would remain deductible for principal residences. Deductions for other personal interest would be limited to $5,000 above investment income. Charitable Gifts Contributions would remain fully deductible only for taxpayers who itemize. State and Local Taxes The deduction for income taxes would be repealed. Property taxes, sales taxes and other levies would not be deductible unless incurred in income-producing activity. Fringes Company-paid health benefits would be taxed as income up to $10 a month for individuals and $25 for joint filers. Business Deductions for sports, theater, and similar entertainment would be disallowed. Deductions would be denied for 50 percent of costs of meals above a specific figure, and travel deductions restricted. Income Shifting Using trusts to shift taxable income to children, who fall into lower brackets, would be curtailed. Capital Gains They are be taxed as ordinary income but with 50 percent excluded from tax, which yields a top rate of 17.5 percent.

A new mayor takes office here Wednesday, bringing to a close the colorful and controversial career of William C. Rado Sr., a force in town politics for 44 years. Running on a campaign to end ''old-time politics,'' the new mayor, Terry L. Buckmiller, was elected the same day Mr. Rado, the outgoing Mayor, was arraigned in neighboring Waterbury on bribery and larceny charges. Those charges grew out of grand-jury testimony that talked of payoffs to ''the guy on the fourth floor.'' For example, Ronald Albaitis, a local contractor, said in an affidavit filed in Waterbury Superior Court: ''This particular job again, he was paid $1,000 cash. I paid him in the men's room on the fourth floor.''

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1985 International Palestinian forces counterattacked from a besieged refugee settlement in Beirut, killing 20 Shiite Moslem militiamen and Lebanese Army soldiers and wounding 62 people, according to the authorities. The Palestinians emerged from underground tunnels and briefly recaptured a seven-story building in the 10th day of fighting around the three refugee settlements. [Page A1, Columns 1-2.] Beirut gunmen seized an American, David Jacobsen, the director of the American University of Beirut medical center. He is the sixth United States citizen being held by kidnappers in Lebanon. [A12:3-4.]

Palestinian forces mounted a counterattack today from one of three besieged refugee settlements, killing 20 Shiite militiamen and Lebanese Army soldiers, the police said. The Palestinian attack came as the fighting around the Sabra, Shatila and Burj al Brajneh settlements entered the 10th day. Sixty-two people were reported wounded in fighting today. Also in the Lebanese capital today, the American director of a West Beirut hospital was abducted by gunmen, bringing to six the number of United States citizens missing in Lebanon. [Page A12.] The Palestinian fighters emerged from tunnels under Sabra and briefly recaptured a wing of a seven-story nursing home at the entrance to the settlement.

The new head of the Koch administration's child-protection agency said yesterday that despite efforts to improve the way the city deals with child abuse, eight children known to the agency had died of abuse or neglect since January. The official, Eric B. Brettschneider, said a panel within the agency, known as a fatality review board, investigated the eight cases and found ''no incompetence'' on the part of workers involved in the cases. Nonetheless, he said, he accepted the resignation of one field-office director who said she was ''tired'' and who appeared to be suffering from ''burnout.'' ''I have not solved the problem of delivering services for child abuse and neglect in New York City,'' said Mr. Brettschneider, who has been in the post since mid-February. ''Is it anybody's expectation that the agency is going to stop the death of children?''

The directors of Trans World Airlines voted unanimously yesterday to put the airline up for sale. The action came after a Federal judge decided earlier in the day not to block an $18-a-share offer from Carl C. Icahn, who already owns 25 percent of the airline's stock. The board instructed the airline's management and its financial adviser, Salomon Brothers Inc., to pursue alternatives that would give shareholders ''an opportunity to participate in a transaction superior to the Icahn proposal.'' The board added that any arrangement should be in the ''best interests of T.W.A.'s employees, the communities it serves and the traveling public.''

MESQUITE-GRILLED chili peppers and goat cheese over buckwheat pasta may be all the rage in some circles, but more and more New Yorkers seem to be combing through cookbooks, markets and restaurant menus in search of something called, with a wonderful indifference to precision, good-tasting food. Good fresh food - chicken, fish, vegetables, fruit or meat - is an extraordinary thing. It should be the best quality that money can buy or that time and effort can produce. And it should be seasoned with authority to bring out the flavor of the ingredients without masking or muddying them. More extraordinary still is the discovery that finding such foods, or creating them, requires so much on the part of the cook.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1985 The Tax-Revision Plan President Reagan urged an overhaul of the income tax system into one that is ''clear, simple and fair for all.'' Inaugurating one of the most ambitious undertakings of his Presidency, Mr. Reagan declared that ordinary people pay too much in taxes because a few do not pay their share. According to a summary of the plan, 79 percent of Americans would pay about the same or less than now. Corporations would owe more. [Page A1.] The head of the House Ways and Means Committee supported the overhaul but warned that Democrats would demand relief for middle-income taxpayers. [A19.]

For the last 35 years, one of the best-selling books printed by the Government has been ''Composition of Foods,'' a large handbook that gives the nutritional values of thousands of items. Now, as more information becomes available and with the increased interest in nutrition and health, that book is being expanded into a series of 23. Twelve volumes, each dealing with a different category of food, have already been published. A 13th, dealing solely with the nutritional value of beef, is scheduled for publication in September.

A majority of taxpayers would find their income tax bills reduced under President Reagan's tax revision plan if Congress adopts it. The tax savings would result from the combination of a big increase in personal exemptions, smaller increases in the standard deduction and lower average tax rates. About one taxpayer in five would see his income tax bills go up, largely because the plan eliminates or scales back a broad range of deductions, exclusions and credits. Over all, individuals would pay about 7 percent less in taxes than they do now, while corporations would pay more. Changes From First Plan Under the initial Treasury plan, proposed last November, individuals were to receive an even larger tax cut, of 8.5 percent. But the White House decided to lessen the tax increase for business, and as a result had to limit the reduction for individuals to maintain the level of revenue that the Treasury now gets.

The Reagan Administration has concluded that Medicare payment rates for hospitals were set 6.1 percent too high and must be frozen next year to correct the error. The error occurred in part because inflation in the health care industry was less than the Government expected, according to rules announcing the new schedule of payments for various treatments, to be issued next week. The adjustment for the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, marks the first time the Government has proposed adjusting Medicare payments in one year to offset the effects of erroneous estimates in a previous year. Medicare finances health care for 27 million elderly and 3 million disabled people. The program this year is expected to cost $71.8 billion, of which $48 billion is for hospital services.

''I believe that, in both spirit and substance, our tax system has come to be un-American.'' - President Reagan. [A1:6.]