zahavasdad,
That’s not how the gift tax works.
First of all, the requirement to pay tax is on the giver, not the receiver.
Second, it’s very unlikely that a person would ever have to pay a gift tax. The way it works is that you only start paying a gift tax once you’ve given more than $5.45 million total in your life. Additionally, the first $14,000 of each individual gift doesn’t even count toward that $5.45 million.
Source: TurboTax (the info is also on the IRS website but the numbers haven’t been updated)
Bottom line, these people didn’t have to pay a gift tax.