ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
Meanwhile, my long disabled cousin just started receiving SSI after 2 years of them dragging their feet.
2 months in, he now has them again, requesting pension forms, paystubs for work, unemployment compensation forms and life insurance policies. All things he already reported he never had due to his disability. It’s like they’ve suddenly believed things changed in that time window.
The whole system seems to be broken, which might be intentional.
No one among the 25 wealthiest avoided as much tax as Buffett, the grandfatherly centibillionaire. That’s perhaps surprising, given his public stance as an advocate of higher taxes for the rich. According to Forbes, his riches rose $24.3 billion between 2014 and 2018. Over those years, the data shows, Buffett reported paying $23.7 million in taxes.
That works out to a true tax rate of 0.1%, or less than 10 cents for every $100 he added to his wealth.
My "true tax rate" is a low single digit number too, if you measure it the same way, and I make ~$50k a year.
It's extremely disingenuous to talk about taxes paid as a percentage of income, and as a percentage of total wealth/net worth, in the same breath, as if they are anywhere near the same thing.
It's also extremely disingenuous to say someone is 'avoiding tax' by not paying tax on their unrealized gains in net worth. He doesn't OWE any tax on that. NOBODY in the US does.
This is like calling someone a draft dodger, who was never drafted, lol.
Business loss should not be able to be used against personal income though. Business income and business taxes and business expenses for executives is a whole other can of worms, but that shouldn't affect "income" and tax offsets.
Title is a little bit clickbaity. The reason a lot of them aren't paying much in taxes is bcz their asset values grew. But if you arent selling it, there's no tax to pay. The headline makes it seem like they just aren't paying any taxes at all.
While there's criticism to go around when it comes to the tax laws around billionaires, this isn't really the issue.
Cashing dividens or taking personal loans ahould come at a higher cost for people worth billions. Me cashing a $45 dividens check is much different than Buffet cashing a $250m check.