Vernal Express | 1979-12-20 | Page 25 | Tax-Free Income?

Tax-Free Income? About 5 million Americans who owed an estimated S2 billion in federal income taxes on nearly $30 billion in taxable income didn't file any income tax returns in 1972, Internal Revenue Commissioner Jerome Kurtz said recently. About S100 million of this total is attributed to organized crime, although some estimates of their "take" are as high as S200 million. Rep. Sam Gibbons (D.-FIa.), who was at the same hearing with Kurtz, also said dial in spite of the fact that most non-filers owe money, it is nonetheless true that many other non-filers actually lose tax refunds. Said Gibbons, "Every year millions in tax refunds go unclaimed, perhaps because the taxpayer just doesn't want to deal with the government at all or because the tax filing system is just loo complicated." It was also reported that only about 2 per cent of tax returns filed are examined by the IRS.