February 19, 1993

THIS is not a pretty story. It begins one Christmas morning, when I was 6 years old and my paternal grandmother's boyfriend, "Uncle" Leo, sat on and broke my hours-old shellac recording of "Tubby the Tuba." It was my first record, and I had played it only once. I cried all day and vowed then and there to collect as many records as I could and guard them with my life. Never again would my peace of mind and ease of soul be forfeit to another human being. Collecting the records was only a matter of money. As a child, I was fully conversant with the concept of the layaway plan. I took after-school jobs at the public library shelving books and at the Robin Hood Cafeteria carrying trays to ransom my copies of "The Little Engine That Could" and "Hansel and Gretel" from the local record shop. Dickens would have wept.

Buried in the sweeping economic plan outlined by President Clinton on Wednesday is a provision on tax deductions for charitable gifts that would produce far-reaching benefits for museums, universities, conservation groups and other nonprofit organizations. The provision, by eliminating a measure in the 1986 Tax Reform Act, would make all major gifts to nonprofit organizations fully deductible at current market value rather than at the purchase price, which is nearly always much lower. This would encourage art collectors, for example, to donate paintings to museums rather than holding onto them or selling them on the open market. The Cost in Lost Revenue The proposal would cost the Federal Government about $70 million a year in lost revenue, the Treasury Department estimated in a document released yesterday.

Television and radio news, listings and advertising appear today on pages B16-17.

If corporate income tax rates are raised, as President Clinton has proposed, many of the largest companies in the United States will be forced to report sharply lower earnings. And the fall in reported profits will vastly exceed the actual cash cost of the higher tax rates. But some banks, as well as companies with financial problems, are likely to post much better earnings than they otherwise would.

The Clinton Plan Debate over President Clinton's economic program began as new White House figures showed that almost all of the deficit reduction proposed for the next two years would come from tax increases, with almost none from spending cuts. [ Page A1. ] New budget tables showed that the cumulative deficit reduction for the next four years would be $325 billion, not $500 billion. [ A15. ] The proposed energy tax based on the heat content of fuels would alter costs for fuel producers more than it would change consumption patterns, analysts say. [ D1. ]