House Republican Group Wary of Killing Deduction for Taxes

WASHINGTON — Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee, in a statement of principles on tax reform, backed away from a key Administration position Wednesday by declaring state and local tax deductions to be “a negotiable item.”

President Reagan has made elimination of those deductions a major part of his tax proposal. That has attracted the opposition of state governors and the Democratic congressional leadership, including House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.).

The Republicans said also that Reagan’s tax reform proposal must be revised to ensure that two-earner couples are not penalized. Although they did not advocate any specific approach, they appeared to be siding with Rostenkowski, who has vowed to retain the two-earner “marriage penalty” deduction, which Reagan has said he wants to abolish.

In issuing a 10-point statement, Rep. John J. Duncan of Tennessee, the top-ranking Republican on the committee, said: “There is no magic to this number. These principles, or guidelines, are not intended to be exclusive, and we believe they are . . . entirely consistent with the stated aims of both the President” and Rostenkowski.

On other issues, the 13 Republicans on the committee reaffirmed support for Administration positions, including the concepts that tax reform should neither increase nor decrease tax revenue and that decisions “must be reached with our national security foremost in mind.”