You may have heard how the rich don’t “pay their fair share in taxes.”
Former Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders made it central to their campaigns. Even President Joe Biden talks about it.
But how much do Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg, and Warren Buffett actually pay?
No one knew—until now.
A startling new ProPublica investigation reveals how America’s ultrawealthy—think top .001 percent—avoid paying federal income taxes.
Here’s where their story begins:
“In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.
Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row.”
How do they do it? And how little do they pay?
Find out in a bombshell piece that shook Washington and easily made our Sunday read of the week.
Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.
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