A news portal has published the alleged tax returns of some of the richest people in the world, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett.
According to “ProPublica,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos did not pay taxes in 2007 and 2011, and Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, did not pay taxes in 2018. The same site claims Michael Bloomberg, the company’s founder with has done so. His nickname has also been the same in recent years. Meanwhile, investor and philanthropist George Soros will not pay income taxes for three consecutive years.
An anonymous source handed over information from the tax administration about American millionaires, among whom are also Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg. The documents reveal that the 25 richest Americans pay less tax – on average 15.8% of gross income – than most ordinary workers.
but how? According to the search portal “with Totally legal tax strategiesMany super-rich have been able to cut their federal tax bills to nothing or close to it, “even though their fortunes have risen in recent years. To do so, they use means such as donations, which are deducted from profits rather than wages.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, according to the BBC, that “any unauthorized disclosure of classified government information” is illegal, and therefore the “ProPublica” article will be investigated by federal authorities.
Biden’s plans
The alleged leak of information comes at a time of growing debate over the value of taxes paid by the rich. US tax law has a progressive logic, which means that the rich are subject to a tax that grows with their income.
But ProPublica found, in fact, that people who earn between two million and five million dollars annually (between 1.6 million and 4.1 million euros) pay at a rate of 27.5%, the highest amount among all groups of taxpayers.
More than $5 million a year, the rate goes down: 1,400 people earning more than $69 million a year pay 23 percent, but the 25 richest people pay less.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans to reduce inequality and raise money for an infrastructure investment program.
Biden has proposed raising prices on the richest, calling for the headline rate to be raised to 39.6% for people who receive at least $400,000 a year, whose group he estimates makes up less than 2% of families. The highest rate workers now pay on the payroll is 37%.
Biden proposed doubling the richer pay rate on dividends and other investments in a proposal to end the tax credit for inherited capital gains.
On the other hand, according to a ProPublica analysis, “while some wealthy Americans will pay more taxes under the current Biden administration’s proposals, the vast majority of the top 25 will see little change.”
