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ProPublica report: some billionaires paying less in taxes than ordinary workers

Jun 09, 2021

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The rich really are different from you and me: They’re better at dodging the tax collector.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011. Tesla founder Elon Musk’s income tax bill was zero in 2018. And financier George Soros went three straight years without paying federal income tax, according to a report Tuesday from the nonprofit investigative journalism organization ProPublica.

Overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax — an average of 15.8% of adjusted gross income — than many ordinary workers do, once you include taxes for Social Security and Medicare, ProPublica found. Its findings are likely to heighten a national debate over the vast and widening inequality between the very wealthiest Americans and everyone else.

An anonymous source delivered to ProPublica reams of Internal Revenue Service data on the country’s wealthiest people, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. ProPublica compared the tax data it received with information available from other sources. It reported that “in every instance we were able to check — involving tax filings by more than 50 separate people — the details provided to ProPublica matched the information from other sources.”

Using perfectly legal tax strategies, many of the uber-rich are able to shrink their federal tax bills to nothing or close to it.

For more on a the idea of a billionaire tax, watch Ian Toner’s story here.

Shannon Longworth: RIGHT NOW — LAW ENFORCEMENT IS INVESTIGATING THE DISCLOSURE OF TAX RECORDS FOR SOME OF AMERICA’S WEALTHIEST.
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT IS NOW INVOLVED AFTER PRO PUBLICA RELEASED ITS REPORT — SHOWING THOUSANDS OF THE COUNTRY’S WEALTHIEST PEOPLE PAID LITTLE TO NO INCOME TAXES.
THE NEWS OUTLET LOOKED AT RECORDS –SPANNING MORE THAN 15 YEARS.
THE REPORT SHOWS BILLIONAIRES LIKE AMAZON FOUNDER, JEFF BEZOS, AND TESLA FOUNDER, ELON MUSK, PAID NO FEDERAL INCOME TAXES FOR SOME OF THOSE YEARS.
WHEN ASKED, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY JEN PSAKI SAID ANY UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT INFORMATION IS ILLEGAL.
BUT ADDED ITS ON THE PRESIDENT’S AGENDA.
Jen Psaki: “I CAN TELL YOU THAT, BROADLY SPEAKING, WE KNOW THAT THERE IS MORE TO BE DONE TO ENSURE THAT CORPORATIONS, INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE AT THE HIGHEST INCOME ARE PAYING MORE OF THEIR FAIR SHARE, HENCE IT’S IN THE PRESIDENT’S PROPOSALS, HIS BUDGET, AND PART OF HOW HE’S PROPOSING TO PAY FOR HIS IDEAS.”
Gwen Baumgardner: TAXING THE WEALTHY *HAS* BEEN A CORNERSTONE OF PRESIDENT BIDEN’S INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN…

AND THE THE IDEA OF A BILLIONAIRE TAX HAS ALSO BEEN FLOATED IN D-C.

SO WHAT DOES THAT ENTAIL?

AND WOULD IT HELP?

IAN TONER GETS *THIS* STRAIGHT IN HIS STORY.

CHECK IT OUT BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW.