April 5, 1974

IRS and Cong Joint Com on Internal Revenue Taxation formally dose their inquiries into Pres Nixon's tax payments for his 1st 4 yrs in White House; com, 9-1, officially notes its agreement with substance of most of recommendations of its staff, which concluded that Nixon underpaid his taxes by $444,022 in yrs '69-'72; sole dissenter from endorsement is Sen C T Curtis; com commends Nixon for his 'prompt decision' to pay taxes; he will pay smaller amount of $432,787 that IRS found he owed for 4 yrs; White House announced that Nixon would pay IRS figure plus interest but he apparently has decided not to pay possible $40,000 interest on his '69 delinquency, which is largest amount for any yr; he can legally avoid payment of interest for that yr because 3-yr statute of limitations has run out on his '69 return; com staff said Nixon underpaid his '69 tax by $171,055; IRS does not disclose its figure; Tax Analysts and Advocates (orgn) says that if Nixon does pay '69 tax he would give himself big tax deduction on his '74 return; IRS says it assessed no fraud penalty for any of yrs because it 'did not believe any such assertion was warranted'; it appears likely issue of fraud will not be formally raised in any forum; question remains as to how IRS could explain that 2 agents who audited Nixon's returns for '71 and 72 just 11 mos ago could conclude that they should be accepted as filed, in light of present rept; IRS refuses to comment; other unanswered questions noted; former IRS Comr Sheldon S Cohen comments (L)

Liberal Gaullist Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Natl Assembly pros Edgar Faure announce their candidacy on Apr 4, several hrs after burial of Pres G Pompidou; Chaban-Delmas appeals to parties of governing coalition to give him their support; 3-party coalition now faces decision of whether to back Chaban-Delmas or Faure or whether to compromise on 3d candidate, such as Min Valery Giscard d'Estaing, Premier Pierre Messmer or Min Michel Jobert; liberal wing leader Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber says that reformists would make no decision on endorsement of candidate before Apr 8; Interim Pres Alain Poher holds conf with Antoine Pinay, giving rise to speculation that he too is contemplating candidacy; Communist leader Georges Marchais calls for single candidate representing Communist-Socialist alliance; Communists support Socialist party chief Francois Mitterrand in runoff, but some Communists favor putting up contender from their own party in first round; Radical Socialists of Robert Fabre officially endorse candidacy of Mitterrand on Apr 4; other contenders on fringes include Trotskyites Alain Krivine and Arlette Laguiller, extreme right-winger Jean-Marie Le Pen and former Gaullist aide Christian Fouchet (M)

NYS Assembly passes, 133-6, measure that would create bipartisan state comm to police campaign practices, mandate tighter controls of campaign donations and expenditures and legalize limited pol contributions from corps for 1st time; bill's fate in Sen and with Gov Wilson is far from certain; Wilson is expected to introduce different measure in upcoming wk and Sen Repub leaders have indicated opposition to comm; provisions of bill, whose passage was directed by Assembly Speaker Duryea, discussed; 6 opponents of bill are conservative Repubs Vito P Battista, Rosemary R Gunning and Dominick L DiCarlo and Constance E Cook and Dems Arthur O Eve and Herbert A Posner (M)

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NJ Assembly approves, 51-24, Assemblyman Albert Burstein bill mandating public financing of gubernatorial elections; attempt by Assemblymen Charles B Yates and Gordon A MacInnes to make it apply to gubernatorial primaries is defeated by 10 votes; bill, which was bitterly opposed in debate, is cornerstone of Gov Byrne's legis program; would make NJ, if passed, 1st state to publicly finance gubernatorial elections; Burstein comments; Common Cause attacks bill as 'sham' (M)