Income

The prospect of higher tax rates for some taxpayers next year has financial advisers putting a reverse spin on advice they normally give this time of year.Instead of advising high-income clients to take maximum advantage of deductions before the end of the year and defer as much income as possible until next year, most tax experts are urging wealthy taxpayers to accelerate income into 1992 and defer deductions until 1993.The theory is deductions will become more valuable, and income more costly, for the wealthiest individuals as the top tax rate rises to 36 percent from 31 percent as promised in President-elect Bill Clinton's first year.

The Columbia Council is considering creating a revolving loan fund to help income-qualified residents make repairs on their homes to comply with the new town's architectural guidelines.Two banks -- the Columbia Bank and First National Bank of Maryland -- have expressed interest in financing and running the one-year pilot loan program, with the nonprofit Columbia Association as the underwriter, said Maggie Brown, the association's director of community services.Under tentative terms, the fund would total about $50,000 and would provide up to $3,000 per household for repairs by residents whose income is no more than 25 percent above the income-eligibility guidelines of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A proposed $1 million revolving loan fund for affordable housing construction could be just what Baltimore County needs to keep moderate-income people from moving to neighboring counties where housing is cheaper, county officials say.The money is part of a $2.5 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.The county wants to use the money to set up a low-interest loan fund for builders.The County Council will vote on the proposal Monday.If the plan is approved, a builder could borrow money from the fund at an interest rate of perhaps 3 percent instead of the higher prevailing commercial rate.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. reported yesterday a drop in income during the second quarter and a lackluster performance at its big defense complex in Linthicum.The company said it earned $122 million, or 35 cents a share, in the quarter, nearly 15 percent less than a year ago. Revenues fell to $3.15 billion from $3.17 billion.Operating profits for Westinghouse's Electronic Systems Group, which has most of its operations next to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, posted a decline, and revenues were flat, said Ronald E. Hart, a company spokesman.

New York --If you're struggling to live on your savings, you'll recognize the distress behind this letter:"My wife and I are both 65," the reader writes. "Our only income is from Social Security and the interest from $100,000, invested in a Treasury bill. We will not risk this money in anything other than Treasury securities, but the one-year rate is now below 5 percent. Should we switch to a 30-year bond for a better yield? We get $12,000 from Social Security and spent $16,000 last year, so we need $4,000 in interest."

It may not be the Society Hill Holly tour, but Annie C. Moore fairly gushes with pride as she escorts a visitor through her plain white frame bungalow.Mrs. Moore, 68, points out the new replacement windows, the new floor around the once-leaking bathroom toilet and the new roof. The $19,500 of work brought the house she has lived in for 31 years up to Baltimore County's building code standards. Work ended March 30."I can hold my head high now and be proud of my house," said Mrs. Moore, a widow who raised six children in her home in the Watersedge section of Dundalk.

DEAR MR. Greenspan: Jean von Briesen appreciates all your efforts, but she will not be helping the economy much anytime soon. You keep saying you're cutting interest rates to get people to spend more, but Jean is spending less. Each time rates drop, Jean and the other people who live on bank savings, bonds and other rate-sensitive investments have less financial wherewithal, not more. You thought you were doing the country a big favor by reducing the key Federal Reserve interest rate to 1.25 percent.

People who find themselves unable to buy a new house because bankers have refused to lend to a potential buyer of their current house should consider offering a private mortgage for all or part of the amount.In this arrangement, the buyer still makes a down payment (which the sellers can use for their next home). The sellers then draw an income from the remainder rather than getting all the money in cash, much like interest on a long-term bond.This income -- part interest and part a gradual payback of principal -- then helps them meet the payments on any larger-than-anticipated loan they might have to take out on the next home.

ATLANTA - Sears and Kmart may be struggling for survival in the Darwinian world of retail, but makers of high-end items are managing quite well, it seems. Jimmy Choo is expanding, opening new stores around the globe. For the sartorially challenged, Jimmy Choo is a designer of very expensive, very trendy and obviously uncomfortable shoes for women - shoes of the sort popularized by the characters on Sex and the City. (They wore Manolo Blahniks, too. Same deal: a lot of bucks for a little bit of sole and severe pain to boot.

Howard County would allow developers to build just half the required number of moderate-income homes by substituting units for a new category of higher "middle-income" families - those earning up to $106,200 a year - under a proposal being discussed by county officials, builders and housing advocates. Although housing advocates express unease with the idea, they do not flatly oppose it at this point. "Our gut reaction is that we feel very nervous about taking units from a moderate program for a middle program," said Andre J. DeVerneil, one of three volunteers from the Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing participating in the session late Thursday.