Guess What?

Undaunted by a new law that, for the first time, makes it a punishable offense (maximum penalty: three years' imprisonment) to file a fraudulent national income-tax return, Italy's taxpayers last week kicked off their annual game of "Guess My Income" with local community tax collectors. The rules of play are simple and timehonored: 1) in public declarations made without oath, each taxpayer makes a guess at his income; 2) the municipal tax collector, sizing up the taxpayer's visible possessions, then makes his guess anywhere from two to thirty times as high and racks up a tax bill accordingly; 3) after long argument and inevitable compromise, a tax is paid on some amount lying between the two extremes.

The game is sometimes played with gallantry by the tax collectors. During her last taxable year, for instance, curvaceous Cinemactress Gina Lollobrigida made three movies, each of which reportedly netted her close to $128,000. Gina modestly estimated her earnings at $40,000, and Rome's tax estimators were kind enough to suggest that perhaps she had earned $128.000 in all. Actress Sophia Loren guessed that she earned $13,000; the tax collector guessed she earned $40,000; according to industry figures, she may have made as much as $480,000. Veteran Actor Vittorio de Sica guessed his income at $48,000, which was just half of what the tax collector guessed, which may in turn be as little as one-seventh of what he actually made.

Sometimes the estimators were far rougher. Prince Alessandro Torlonia, son-in-law of Spain's former King Alfonso XIII, claimed that his income was $42,400; the collectors estimated $1,280,000.

Herewith the latest incomes of some other leading Italian taxpayers according to the variant guesses in Italy's favorite game:

P: Marshal Pietro Badoglio: his guess, $5,600; collector's guess, $17,600. P:Rome's leading Surgeon Pietro Valdoni: his guess, $24,000; collector's guess, $120,000.

P:Papal Physician Riccardo Galeazzi-Lisi: his guess, $3,600; collector's guess, $24,000.

P:Actress Anna Magnani: her guess $3,200; collector's guess, $48,000.

One notable spoilsport: ex-Metropolitan Opera Tenor Beniamino Gigli, whose claimed income of $20,640 matched the tax-collector's estimate.

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