Internal Revenue Service data obtained from ProPublica has revealed that some of the richest people in the world paid very little to zero income tax in recent years.
One of the billionaires that the data revealed paying zero income tax is Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, who managed to do so in 2018. Another billionaire, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, now the world's wealthiest person, did not pay any federal income taxes both in 2007 and 2011.
The report highlights a contrast that exists between the richest people in the United States who contribute close to nothing in tax revenue, and those who have to pick up the tab, barely getting by.
According to estimations by ProPublica, 25 of the wealthiest individuals in the United States became wealthier by $401 billion between 2014 and 2018, whilst barely paying $13.6 billion in federal income taxes at a rate of onlu 3.4%.
The current phenomenon is unlikely to change as lawmakers struggle to pass bills putting forward tax increases for the super-wealthy. Small changes also fail to be passed by Congress.
The Biden administration has proposed raining the top tax rate from 37 to 39.6 percent for the following fiscal year. Earlier this month, Biden also unveiled $3.6 trillion in tax increases on large corporations and extremely wealthy US citizens.
As expected, Republicans have condemned the plans which will likely not be enacted, The New York Times reports.
But there are loopholes that billionaires will keep taking advantage of in order to pay very little taxes, a problem that remains to be addressed.
[h/t: Futurism]
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