NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : IRS Fails to Collect Billions in Taxes

Americans will pay $127 billion less in taxes than they owe in 1992, and the IRS will be able to recover only about 25% of that amount, Internal Revenue Service chief Fred T. Goldberg Jr. said in Washington. The gap for 1988 is estimated at $96.8 billion, and it is expected to grow annually. Goldberg said that much of the shortfall stems from honest error rather than cheating. He urged Congress to provide funds to enable the IRS to reduce the tax loss by, among other steps, modernizing its computers and improving taxpayer services. In 1987, the latest year for which figures are available, the net gap between what was owed and what was paid was $72 billion, Goldberg said.