January 17, 1986

The way that Congress drafts budgets would change radically under proposals advanced by Congressional leaders who face the problem of cutting up to $60 billion from next year's budget. Most of the proposals call for some form of coalition of members from both parties and both chambers who would bypass existing procedures and start shaping a deficit reduction package soon. [ A12:3-4. ] BTW

Income tax cheaters face new scrutiny under an agreement for exchanging information that was signed by tax officials of 10 Northeast states and the District of Columbia. The measure is aimed mainly at taxpayers who live and work in one state but falsely claim another as their primary residence in an effort to pay lower state income taxes or no taxes at all. [ B1:5. ] PM

AMERICAN and Soviet negotiators began a new round of arms talks in Geneva with United States delegates caught on the hop by Mr Mikhail Gorbachev's sweeping proposals to eliminate all nuclear weapons by the year 2000. Mr Gorbachev's three-stage plan was promptly presented at the first meeting of the new round by the Soviet chief negotiator, Mr Viktor Karpov. The US delegation leader, Mr Max Kampelman, had no immediate comment, but Western diplomats noted that Mr Gorbachev was still linking any agreement to Washington abandoning the US programme on defensive anti-missile systems in space – "Star Wars." SF