West Seattle couple leaves it all to Uncle Sam

Mark Matassa Jul 1, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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          <article>
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                <h1>West Seattle couple leaves it all to Uncle Sam</h1>
                <h2><p>You hear stories about people cheating on their taxes to save a few hundred or thousand bucks. But The Seattle Times’ Erik Lacitis tells the story of a West Seattle couple who went the other way: When Peter and Joan Petrasek died, they left all their assets, $847,217, to</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mmatassa-mac-com/">Mark Matassa</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>You hear stories about people cheating on their taxes to save a few hundred or thousand bucks. But <em>The Seattle Times</em>’ Erik Lacitis tells the story of a West Seattle couple who went the other way: When Peter and Joan Petrasek died, they<a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/couple-bequeaths-it-all-847215-to-uncle-sam/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org"> left all their assets, $847,217</a>, to the U.S. government. The couple had no children. The generous gift, Lacitis reports, was enough to keep the government running for 7.63 seconds.</p>
          </article>

You hear stories about people cheating on their taxes to save a few hundred or thousand bucks. But The Seattle Times’ Erik Lacitis tells the story of a West Seattle couple who went the other way: When Peter and Joan Petrasek died, they left all their assets, $847,217, to the U.S. government. The couple had no children. The generous gift, Lacitis reports, was enough to keep the government running for 7.63 seconds.

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