Due Bill for Hubert

In return for giving his vice-presidential papers to the Minnesota Historical Society, Senator Hubert Humphrey deducted $199,153 from his federal tax returns for 1969 through 1972. Last week the Minnesota Democrat said that the Internal Revenue Service had disallowed the deductions, and that he will reimburse the Government for the back taxes, plus 6% annual interest. The settlement will cost him as much as $147,000, according to one estimate. His salary as a Senator is $42,500 a year, but he also earns substantial amounts from speeches--$65,650 in 1973.

Humphrey's papers had been appraised by Ralph Newman of Chicago, who had also set the value of the pre-presidential papers of Richard Nixon that were given to the National Archives. Newman has been indicted for his role in that affair, in which Nixon claimed tax deductions totaling $482,018. They were disallowed when the IRS determined that the deed for the papers had been illegally backdated. In Humphrey's case, however, there was no question of fraud. The IRS ruled that because he had limited public access to his papers for 25 years, his gift did not qualify as a charitable deduction.

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