TAXES: Making Papa Pay

New York State, which has raised taxes under the administration of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, last week appeared to have found a likely new source: teenagers' income from baby sitting, caddying and other spare-time jobs. In a new set of instructions, the State Tax Commission directed parents to itemize "income of dependent minor children from personal service compensation."

Such a directive was bound to stir a storm of protest. It did. One outraged parent sent State Tax Commission President Joseph H. Murphy 2¢. Others complained that it is hard enough to teach teen-agers the merits of earning their own way, let alone have them subjected to the discouragement of tax collection on every penny. Warned the New York Times, only half humorously: If tax officials persist, they "may find that they are fostering juvenile delinquency, cutting car production, plunging parents into the captivity of their progeny."

With the uproar rising, Commission President Murphy explained that the law has really been on the book for 40 years and he was only trying to "end confusion" by inserting special instructions to "clarify" the tax form. At week's end parents hoped that a bill, introduced in the state legislature to eliminate the controversial section, would give children the same tax freedom (up to $600) they have under federal law.