Tell us what you think about key issues WHICH TAXES WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO PAY TO CUT THE FEDERAL DEFICIT?

(MONEY Magazine) – With this issue, MONEY launches a monthly readers' poll. In these pages, we will ask for your opinions on matters ranging from how to improve the quality of the nation's public schools to the best ways to control medical costs. In the future, we'll devote one page of the poll to new questions and the other to your answers from a previous survey. We begin with the overriding economic problem facing the country: how to slash the federal budget deficit. This fiscal year, the deficit is expected to balloon 14% to a record $331 billion -- more than the federal debt amassed from 1776 to 1966 (in current dollars). Even though President-elect Clinton has suggested $27 billion in spending cuts for fiscal 1993, he has also talked about some expensive initiatives that figure to leave the deficit at $320 billion or so.Reducing the deficit further would appear to require at least some of the following: raising tax rates, curbing deductions, taxing Social Security benefits more heavily or introducing new national taxes. Here are 34 actively discussed proposals to raise tax revenue from individuals, plus, where available, how much each could contribute toward closing the deficit in 1993 and over the next five years, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, DRI/McGraw-Hill, an economics consulting firm, and MONEY estimates. Circle the proposals you favor, if any -- feel free to write in your own ideas -- and return the poll to us either by fax (212-522-0119) or mail (MONEY January Poll, Room 3238, Time & Life Building, Rockefeller Center, New York, N.Y. 10020). Thank you for your participation.

TAX RATES

1. Raise the top marginal tax rate from 31% to 36% on couples with adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 and on individuals making more than $150,000. $9 billion (1993) $75 billion ('93-'97)

2. Levy a 10% surtax on million-dollar earners. $1.9 billion (1993) $10.5 billion ('93-'97)

3. Increase income taxes on households with incomes of more than $80,000. About $9 billion (1993) About $85 billion ('93-'97) (these figures assume a 7% across-the-board tax hike)

4. Raise income taxes on all households with incomes of less than $80,000. About $9 billion (1993) About $85 billion ('93-'97)

5. Raise the top capital-gains tax rate from today's 28% to 31%. -$1 billion (1993) $3 billion ('93-'97)

6. Repeal the indexing for inflation of the personal exemption, standard deduction, tax brackets and so on. $4 billion (1993) $128.1 billion ('93-'97) (assumes a 3.5% average annual inflation rate)

7. Increase the alternative minimum tax rate, paid by wealthy individuals, from 24% to 28%. $1.1 billion (1993) $27 billion ('93-'97)

DEDUCTIONS

1. Repeal the deductibility of Individual Retirement Accounts. No estimate (1993) Under $8 billion ('93-'97)

2. Eliminate the deductibility of mortgage interest on all residences. $31 billion (1993) $253.6 billion ('93-'97)

3. Disallow the deductibility of mortgage interest on any home loans that are greater than $300,000. $1 billion (1993) $14.7 billion ('93-'97)

4. Cap the mortgage interest deduction at $12,000 for single filers, $20,000 for joint returns (at today's mortgage rates, interest would be deductible on mortgages of up to around $235,000).

$1.5 billion (1993) $23.5 billion ('93-'97)

5. Prohibit the deductibility of mortgage interest on second homes. $200 million (1993) $1.7 billion ('93-'97)

6. Eliminate the deductibility of property taxes as well as state and local income taxes. $16.2 billion (1993) $204.8 billion ('93-'97)

7. Restrict the deductibility of state and local income taxes to the amount that exceeds 1% of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income. $1.8 billion (1993) $28.5 billion ('93-'97)

8. Eliminate all charitable deductions (which are now available only to people who itemize). $2.7 billion (1993) $81.1 billion ('93-'97)

9. Permit charitable deductions only for amounts that exceed 2% of adjusted gross income. $1.1 billion (1993) $34.7 billion ('93-'97)

10. Lower the deductions for the cost of business meals and entertainment from today's 80% to 50%. $1.6 billion (1993) $15.5 billion ('93-'97)

11. Permit miscellaneous deductions only to the extent they exceed 5% of a taxpayer's adjusted gross income (compared with 2% today). Revenue estimates unavailable

12. Raise the threshold for writing off medical and dental expenses from today's 7.5% of income to 10%. Under $700 million (1993) $4 billion ('93-'97)

13. Limit the tax savings you would get on itemized deductions to 15 cents on the dollar. $26.8 billion (1993) $306.4 billion ('93-'97)

14. Lower the maximum annual employee contribution to a 401(k) company savings plan from 1992's $8,728 to $4,000. $300 million (1993) $2.8 billion ('93-'97)

SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES

1. Eliminate the cap on wages that are subject to the Medicare tax; the 1992 rate was 1.45% on amounts of up to $130,200. $2.6 billion (1993) $27.8 billion ('93-'97)

2. Raise the amount of Social Security benefits that are taxable from today's 50% to 85%. $2.7 billion (1993) $29.1 billion ('93-'97)

CAPITAL GAINS

1. Tax 30% of the capital gains on the sale of all homes rather than letting sellers defer gains. $600 million (1993) $28.1 billion ('93-'97)

2. Eliminate the once-in-a-lifetime exclusion of up to $125,000 of gains on homes sold by people who are 55 and older. Under $50 million (1993) $2.2 billion ('93-'97)

3. Include all unrealized gains as income in the last tax return of a deceased person (except the gains on assets that are inherited by a spouse or are given to charity). Under $50 million (1993) $17 billion ('93-'97)

GIFTS AND ESTATES

1. Eliminate the annual exclusion of taxes on cash gifts of up to $10,000 ($20,000 per couple). Revenue estimates unavailable

2. Lower the amount you can leave to your heirs tax-free from today's $600,000 to $300,000. Under $50 million (1993) $4.9 billion ('93-'97)

CONSUMPTION TAXES

1. Increase federal taxes on alcohol to $16 per proof gallon (thereby raising them from 33 cents to 81 cents on a six-pack of beer, for example). $3.8 billion (1993) $23.5 billion ('93-'97)

2. Double the 24 cents-a-pack cigarette tax. $2.9 billion (1993) $18.1 billion ('93-'97)

3. Raise today's 14.1 cents-a-gallon gasoline tax by 12 cents. $10.9 billion (1993) $54.8 billion ('93-'97)

4. Impose a 5% value-added tax (a kind of national sales tax), excluding such necessities as food, housing and medical care, as of Jan. 1, 1994. $0 (1993) $267 billion ('93-'97)

5. Adopt a $5-per-barrel oil import fee. $8.8 billion (1993) $54.9 billion ('93-'97)

6. Levy a 5% broad-based energy consumption tax. $13.4 billion (1993) $84.6 billion ('93-'97)

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: OPTIONAL DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION