August 22, 1986

The new tax bill is a major step forward for low-income families, easing a tax burden that has grown increasingly heavy on them over the past decade, according to a variety of experts. While other aspects of the tax revision plan have sparked opposition in the week since the bill's approval by a House-Senate conference committee, both liberal and conservative groups have hailed the bill's treatment of low-income working people. Under the bill, an estimated 6 million low-income households would be dropped from the tax rolls entirely. By 1988, households earning less than $10,000 would see their taxes reduced, on average, by 65.7 percent, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. Taxes would drop by 22.3 percent among households earning between $10,000 and $20,000 a year.

The Economy Low-income families would have an easier tax burden, and six million households would be dropped from the tax rolls under the proposed tax legislation. Most comments on these changes have been favorable, a consensus all the more striking amid the contention on other provisions. [ Page A1. ] Treatment of capital gains by the tax bill is proving confusing. Because there will be five tax brackets in 1987 before the plan's two basic brackets take effect in 1988, capital gains would be treated differently for 1986, 1987 and 1988. [ D1. ] Vacation homes bought more for their value as shelters than as tranquil escapes would be less-attractive investments under the proposed tax legislation. [ D3. ]

The Chernobyl disaster produced far more radioactive contamination that covered a much wider area than previously indicated, according to a Soviet report on the accident. And, it says, residents who were evacuated around the power plant may not be able to return for as long as four years. The 382-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, said radiation in some areas remained at higher levels than had been disclosed and might rise as particles drift around. It said topsoil was being scraped up in parts of the evacuation zone of 1,000 square miles and was being hauled off for burial as nuclear waste. #6,500 Extra Deaths Possible And it raised the possibility of 6,500 premature deaths in the Soviet Union and of continuing contamination of fish, vegetation and housing up to dozens of miles from the plant.

Teams of police officers, invoking a little-used law, yesterday raided more than 200 stores in New York City that sell drug paraphernalia and seized more than 39,000 glass pipes that can be used to smoke crack, a potent form of cocaine. The simultaneous raids, which began about 10 A.M. and were over by midafternoon, were the latest step in a high-profile campaign by law-enforcement authorities to stem the spread of the addictive drug, which police officials have credited with increasing crime in the city. At a news conference yesterday afternoon announcing the seizures, Mayor Koch also called on the public to boycott candy stores, newsstands and tobacco shops that sell drug paraphernalia. Attacking Drug Economy ''We're not only saying no to crack,'' the Mayor said in a statement. ''We're saying no to anybody who is supporting this crack epidemic. It's time for economic sanctions.'' He said he would ask religious and community leaders to aid the boycott campaign.

The Chernobyl disaster did serious harm to the Soviet nuclear power program and has forced a review of the location and size of atomic generating plants, a Government official said today. Some nuclear stations are near big cities, and a four-reactor station similar to the Chernobyl plant is situated not far from Leningrad. Nuclear central steam plants are under construction in the suburbs of other cities. The official, Andronik M. Petrosyants, who is chairman of the State Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, said at a news conference that the Chernobyl accident ''hurt the nuclear program badly.''