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Reagan Budget Proposals to Prove Costly to Individuals : Benefits Would : Decrease, Fees Rise Under Plan

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Associated Press

President Reagan’s proposed 13-figure federal spending plan would nick a few bucks a week out of many Americans’ budgets and drain thousands of dollars out of some family bank accounts through higher home costs and bigger medical bills.

The 1988 federal budget proposal calls for no general income tax increases as it outlines spending $1,024,000,000,000, the first trillion-dollar government outlay plan.

But this spending plan does seek to cut the flow of federal red ink with measures aimed at specific groups of Americans. These millions of Americans would be hit right in the bank accounts--through user fees, higher electric bills, higher Social Security taxes, lower subsidies and the like.

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Miners, Schoolchildren

Among the proposals:

--Some retired coal miners suffering from black lung would find at least a portion of their benefits taxed for the first time.

--Schoolchildren from lower-income families--14.7 million of them--would no longer receive subsidized school lunches. These children come from families with income greater than 185% of the poverty level, which works out to $20,350 for a family of four.

--Going to a national park would cost more. Fees go into effect at 73 parks next month for the first time. Reagan’s budget would double the maximum fee from $5 to $10 a day.

--Obtaining an FHA or VA mortgage to buy a home would cost much more. Reagan’s budget would increase the fees charged at closing to buy a house, for example from 1% to 2.5% for one fee on a VA loan. That would raise the closing costs for a median-price home--about $80,000--from $800 to $2,000. And the Mortgage Bankers Assn. says all the proposed changes could boost down payments and closing costs by as much as $10,000.

--Veterans seeking medical care at VA hospitals would find that treatment would no longer be free in some cases. Reagan proposes charging veterans who can afford it for medical treatment of non-service-connected illnesses, bills that could easily run to the thousands of dollars.

--Farmers would see their federal subsidies slashed. For the biggest farms, the maximum subsidy would be cut to $50,000 a year from $250,000.

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--About 3 million state, county and local government employees would have to start paying the Medicare portion of the Social Security tax. For a worker with the median family income of about $27,740 a year, the extra taxes would total about $402 a year or about $7.73 a week.

--Reagan seeks to sell several of the public power authorities still owned by the federal government. The budget estimates that the sale of the Bonneville Power Authority in the Northwest--which is under study--would raise home electric bills in that part of the country about $5 a month.

--And an air or sea ticket for international travel to from the United States would cost $1 more. The money would go to pay for the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration.

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