![]() Taxes are very much in the policy conversation at the moment. Notably, Bezos has endorsed raising the corporate rate (Trump and Republicans slashed it back in 2017), but as CNN has reported, it’s still unlikely his Amazon would pay anything close to either rate.Įven on the income the superwealthy do claim, often in the form of capital gains, they often pay a lower rate than Americans who make far less money. It’s also true that with so much of their wealth tied up in stock, they effectively pay tax through their companies however, the corporate tax rate of 21% is far lower than the top rate of 37% on income over $523,000 for individuals. How can you ask me that question?”īut in these cases, the loans do act as the income. ![]() He added: “Do you think a rich person should pay taxes no matter what? I don’t think it’s germane. “The reason is if, if you’re a poor person, a rich person, if you are Apple - if you have no income, you don’t pay taxes.” “There’s a reason it’s called income tax,” he said. They’ll pay less to the bank in interest than they would to the government in income tax.Ĭarl Icahn, the investor, gave an interview to ProPublica about his tax returns and it printed this illuminating response: The report does show how the wealthy finance their lifestyles with loans taken against assets, like real estate or stocks, rather than realizing the value of an asset. Also, everyday Americans likely pay property taxes and utilized mortgages to buy their homes. This is something that plays out on a smaller scale for your average American homeowner or 401(k) holder, whose wealth grows without being taxed by the federal government every year. The issue is that his wealth skyrocketed at the same time. So he paid more than 20% on his reported income. But his income was much lower – he reported $4.22 billion and paid $973 million in income tax in those years. It lists Bezos as gaining $99 billion in wealth between 20. ![]() ![]() ProPublica cites guesstimates from Forbes, but it’s an imperfect assessment. First, US tax law is focused on income and much of the superwealth is tied up in company stock or other investments that have real value but aren’t taxable year to year. How is this possible? The report analyzes how this is possible, and the reasons are many. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts over whether the government should tax extreme wealth in addition to income. (Buffett, at least, has long acknowledged this, infamously saying he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary.)īloomberg, during his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, tangled with Sen. Bloomberg and Buffett, who have both supported raising tax rates for the wealthy, have both had $0 income tax bills. The scandal is that these actions are perfectly legal. ProPublica also reports that Musk, the second wealthiest human on Earth, whose wealth has grown many billions in recent years and who also has a passion project space company, told the government he owed no income tax in 2018. This should sound familiar former President Donald Trump did the same thing.īut that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a scandal that Bezos, the richest person on Earth – who has used his vast wealth to start a spaceship company that will take him into space, where he will also be the richest person – has in multiple recent years told the federal government he owed no income taxes, according to ProPublica. Its first report (it promises more to come) is on the richest of the rich, who in certain years claim losses that can wipe out their income tax bills. And now we have a map of how the wealthiest people exploit it thanks to a bombshell report from ProPublica, the investigative journalism nonprofit, which claims to have obtained years of tax returns for the wealthiest people in the country from an anonymous source. Or how about this one: The rich get richer … because they don’t always pay their fair share into the community chest. But none of them, in various years, seem to have paid federal income taxes. Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett and Elon Musk all walk into the IRS.
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