George Soros and Bezos have paid almost zero taxes

[bryant.coleman]

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

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.

I am forced to post this, because a lot of people have been brainwashed into thinking that the Democrats are in favor of higher taxes for the rich. Democrat heavyweights such as Michael Bloomberg and George Soros always argue in favor of higher income and capital gains taxes. But the truth is that the Democrats only want the middle class to pay taxes. Billionaires such as Soros and Bloomberg never pays a penny in taxes, because they never sell any of their assets. Instead, they take loans by mortgaging their assets. And yet, they are thick skinned enough to gloat in the public that the "rich" should pay more taxes.

This is the reality behind the new "American families plan" by Joe Biden. The additional $6 trillion burden will fall on the middle class, while the uber-rich will continue to pay near-zero taxes.

According to the research by ProPublica, the billionaires in the US saw their wealth increasing by $401 billion between 2014 and 2018. And they paid a total of $13.6 billion in income taxes during this period (which corresponds to a rate of 3.4%). An upper middle class family in high-tax states such as California and New York are required to pay close to 60% of their income as taxes, while these people are paying around 1/20th of that amount.

If people still believe in Biden and his stupid spending plans, then the future looks hopeless for the United States.

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[jackg]

I'm sure there was mention of a wealth tax a while ago which would be a useful thing for governments to add at least (taxing people with net worths over €40 million).

There's the other idea that a government could just order to take a share of all companies incorporated (eg 5% and do it retroactively).

This is a priblem the world seems to be dealing with as countries don't want to move their wealthy people to other countries that have less laws and some larger companies are harder for governments to just liquidate/take control of.

[paxmao]

It is curious how some of these guys are in theory favourable to increasing the tax for "the rich". I guess their rationale is that they do not really fall into that category, that is, they are not in the 10% or 15% richest but rather a different class of the 1% of the 1% of the richest, which will retain all manner of loopholes and tricks for avoidance that are only available when you can spend millions in making sure you do not pay a dime more than strictly required.

I am now on the countdown to hear Elon brag about him paying much more taxes than the others 

[stompix]

That wealth growth is a bit misleading.

Let's assume you have bought 1 million in BTC when it was at 3k and now you're up 10x times at 10 million, you har a $9million growth in assets but you didn't sell a dime, you shouldn't be taxed for those gains, right? Same for shares in a company, those are unrealized gains I doubt Buffet has sold 24billions of shares lately and probably the same is for almost everyone on that list.

That article is heavily biased, and I can't really take seriously any paper that has its main category of news labeled "racial justice", it's just another of those attempts to make the rich look bad and that we have to tax them as much s we can so that the new social paradise can be built. The wealth tax has failed miserably in Europe, France has tried it two times and the consequences have been so clear I doubt they will try it the third time, you simply lose more money than what you get.

As for the democrats, they also know the truth, if they tax the rich they will lose more money from capital outflow than they would make, so this whole taxation thing is just propaganda to get more votes for the poor class, and since obviously they can't hit those ones with taxes the only once they can fleece is the middle class, as usual.

[bryant.coleman]

That wealth growth is a bit misleading.

Let's assume you have bought 1 million in BTC when it was at 3k and now you're up 10x times at 10 million, you har a $9million growth in assets but you didn't sell a dime, you shouldn't be taxed for those gains, right? Same for shares in a company, those are unrealized gains I doubt Buffet has sold 24billions of shares lately and probably the same is for almost everyone on that list.

That article is heavily biased, and I can't really take seriously any paper that has its main category of news labeled "racial justice", it's just another of those attempts to make the rich look bad and that we have to tax them as much s we can so that the new social paradise can be built. The wealth tax has failed miserably in Europe, France has tried it two times and the consequences have been so clear I doubt they will try it the third time, you simply lose more money than what you get.

As for the democrats, they also know the truth, if they tax the rich they will lose more money from capital outflow than they would make, so this whole taxation thing is just propaganda to get more votes for the poor class, and since obviously they can't hit those ones with taxes the only once they can fleece is the middle class, as usual.

If you check the table, you can see that many of them have realized gains and income. But using various loopholes they have avoided paying taxes. As per ProPublica, these billionaires take advantage of "tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people". For example, according to the data that is released, Michael Bloomberg had a taxable income of $10.0 billion during 2014-18. Yet he paid an income tax of only $292 million. Here, I am not talking about wealth growth or unrealized gains, but taxable income.

[fiulpro]

Ofcourse such things should have been published already out in the open in every newspaper, this way these people will themselves realize where the problem lies. I do think that most of the times they fund political parties and at the same time are involved in numerous things we don't know about. Therefore the democrats do make rules always in their favour.
Much like what Kylie Jenner did on Instagram, asking for people to fund for the operation, when she was honestly so capable of doing so herself. This is nothing but a political view. People need to be taught that in schools.
When we are talking about the idea of "taxable incomes", we should understand that rules change every now and then, plus people are always willing to hide the most that they can. Plus since they are rich and powerful , they always get away with it. It's easier to bribe an officer rather pay so much tax!

[stompix]

If you check the table, you can see that many of them have realized gains and income.

And Warren has realized 125 million and paid 25 million in tax, according to the same sources that's 20% and nowhere near the 0.10% that Pulitzer socialist piece of ....paper claims. As I said, presenting a distorted image incites the masses to grab their pitchforks, even labeling that as "true tax" when they obviously know that's not the case, they float around the billions in unrealized gains and that's all.

Plus:

Taken together, it demolishes the cornerstone myth of the American tax system: that everyone pays their fair share and the richest Americans pay the most.

I still see Bloomberg paying $294 million, I somehow think that he paid more than Bernie Sanders even if we add "the Squad" by quite a large margin, in my opinion, fair share means everyone pays the same as they are benefiting the same from what the government provides. I don't understand why me in the EU for example I pay 5 more on health insurance than others, I don't think I'm going 5 times more to the hospital, nor that the government spent 5 more with me on scholarship, nor that I have one extra line in traffic. Really can't see that "fair share" everyone talks about.

[Kittygalore]

That's because they have did somethings that are considered as tax write offs like charities or giving stocks to their employees like what Jeff did with Amazon. To be honest, if these laws still exist, we will continue to see more billionaires not contributing to society through taxes and as long as lawmakers are easily manipulated through lobbying then the results won't change at all.

[target]

It happens almost every where not just in US.There are just laws they can use to evade tax and make it like they are law abiding still. They don't call it taxable income if it shouldn't be taxed.

Charities and foundations are always used by the waelthy people to accomplish what they want. You having billions of money but don't want to pay responsibilities. They're not just cheating the government but to the people too.

[bryant.coleman]

If you check the table, you can see that many of them have realized gains and income.

And Warren has realized 125 million and paid 25 million in tax, according to the same sources that's 20% and nowhere near the 0.10% that Pulitzer socialist piece of ....paper claims. As I said, presenting a distorted image incites the masses to grab their pitchforks, even labeling that as "true tax" when they obviously know that's not the case, they float around the billions in unrealized gains and that's all.

The percentage is derived after dividing the tax paid by the growth in wealth for the 2014-18 period. 18.96% paid by Warren Buffet is still far below the long term capital gains tax rate. Well, in case of Buffet we can say that at least he paid some amount of tax. But what about Bloomberg? He paid tax at a rate of 2.92%. Even if all of his income comprised of long term capital gains, the applicable tax rate is far below what ordinary people would have paid. My issue here is that people like Bloomberg argues in favor of higher taxes all the time, and still refuses to pay even the normal tax rates.

You seems to have missed the most important point raised by ProPublica:

Billionaires take advantage of tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people

[oHnK]

I've also read articles about the richest man in the US not paying his wealth tax.  Even the funniest thing is, after the data was published they took the issue of data leaking to legal action.  If the data is not leaked then people will assume that they are always good and obedient to taxes, in fact they are just rich people who are very stingy and do not want their wealth to be reduced by sharing in the development of the country.  Yes, this is human nature.  Greedy with the results of his wealth even though there is a meaning to share from excess wealth.  If the Biden government is wise, the tax policy should be tightened for the richest people in the world.

[BrewMaster]

i don't think this has anything to do with Biden or Democrats that you are singling out because this didn't start today. it started years ago, i believe it was Reagan that started changing everything in favor of the wealthy and we are talking about 80's which is 40 years ago now. he basically brought Capitalism to America and made it thrive. then the wealthy that used to pay the highest taxes (percentage wise) started to pay less and less. eventually they got the power over US laws and shaped it to benefit them the most. and this continued happening during both Republicans and Democrats alike.
any president these days both doesn't care because it benefits them too and doesn't even have the power to change anything.

[Moreforless]

Deductions, credits, exemptions. Now replace all of that with a flat tax.

[stompix]

You seems to have missed the most important point raised by ProPublica:

Billionaires take advantage of tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people

Not at all, I've just read the whole paragraph 

America’s billionaires avail themselves of tax-avoidance strategies beyond the reach of ordinary people. Their wealth derives from the skyrocketing value of their assets, like stock and property. Those gains are not defined by U.S. laws as taxable income unless and until the billionaires sell.

So, as I said, they don't do anything illegal. Anyone could do it, there are no laws broken, and there no quotas in those laws, where you have to be at least worth $100m to benefit from some of those. If you want to discuss how billionaires are avoiding this in a way the average Joe can't feel free to give one example that can't be replicated by an average income citizen.

This hunt for the rich will end badly as it has always done.

As for the other part:

My issue here is that people like Bloomberg argues in favor of higher taxes all the time, and still refuses to pay even the normal tax rates.

Of course, what do you expect?
The basic requirement when being a socialist democrat or a true socialist is to care about the other's money! Yours will always be the exception.

[Vatimins]

     This is really unfair for the people in the middle class. Specially when you think about how much work they do for only a few bucks whereas these billionaires barely do anything than use their heads in running their companies and checking on their investments. How can this be even called okay? People should do something about this. If not entirely equal, at least make some efforts to lessen the taxes of middle-class people. Doing such would go a long long way. Tax is needed but there should be equality between the middle-class people and the higher class people.

[bryant.coleman]

So, as I said, they don't do anything illegal. Anyone could do it, there are no laws broken, and there no quotas in those laws, where you have to be at least worth $100m to benefit from some of those. If you want to discuss how billionaires are avoiding this in a way the average Joe can't feel free to give one example that can't be replicated by an average income citizen.

This hunt for the rich will end badly as it has always done.
~~~

I am not saying that they are doing anything illegal here. The loopholes have been created so that these people can pay almost nothing in taxes. I will give on example:

A billionaire purchases 20 pieces of real estate worth $1 million each. Out of these 20 plots, 2 (A,B) goes down in value by 20% each. Another 4 (C,D,E,F) neither appreciates, nor depreciates. And yet another 4 (G,H,I,J) pieces go up by 10% each.  And the remaining 10 plots go up by 50% each. Now the total net worth of the 20 plots have gone up from $20 million, to a total of $25 million. The net worth of the investor goes up by $5 million.

Now comes the interesting part. The investor sells the plots A to J, and he receives a total of $10 million after the sale. Now on this $10 million he needs to pay zero tax, since the losses from plots A and B makes up for the profits from the other plots. And meanwhile, he is still left with $15 million worth of property.

Ordinary people can't do this, simply because they can't afford to purchase dozens of different properties in different regions. And this is not just applicable with real estate, but also with stocks or cryptocurrencies. As such there is nothing illegal in doing this. But it puts the super-rich at an unfair advantage compared to the others.

[Vaskiy]

This is why billionaires keep on increasing their wealth while the common man pays perfectly and gets nothing from the government in return.

In my country a man earning $7000 is supposed to pay 5% as tax. One who earns more than $15000 needs to pay $200+10% on the earnings above the provided slab. Beyond this citizens need to pay $500+15% on the earnings.

I don't know governments are always standing with corporates and billionaires giving the burden to the common people.

[uneng]

I don't want to defend these guys, but I think it's pretty normal the richest a person is, the less taxes (in % proportional to their total wealth growth) he is going to pay. If it didn't work this way there wouldn't be incentive for people thrive in life. Who would make a lot of effort to increase their wealth if once achieved, they would have pay proportional taxes?
Being a rich or a poor would mean the same thing, from net profit perspective, with the difference the rich would have a lot more responsabilities and appointments without any extra reward for that.

The problem with these titans of the world is that they are hypocritical and demagogic. Instead of teaching common people the path to success and how the show is played behind the curtains, they just deceive the public, pretending to be the nice, funny, friendly, philanthropist, empathic guys towards the sheep. These billionaires preach a life they don't live, while donating pennies of their fortunes to the sheep. That is modern slavery, their real sin.

[tygeade]

Federal taxes are weird things, when you get 100+ billion dollars richer but it is just on paper, you do not pay any taxes at all because you didn't cash in on that. If Jeff Bezos cashed out and sold all his stocks that made that much profit, then he would have paid the biggest tax anyone has ever paid in the history, but since he didn't and he is still holding, dude paid zero. Can you imagine the difference, without selling he paid zero, with selling he would have broken any record and by miles as well not even close, that is the difference.

Maybe we should find a way to tax people who made over a billion dollars in profit in any shape or form, a billion dollars is just like 10 people at most, and nobody should be against it. However republicans will ALWAYS be against tax hike, not just lawmakers neither, people who make 30k per year will say "if they tax billionaires today, they will come after me eventually" and be against it as well.

[icopress]

The basic requirement when being a socialist democrat or a true socialist is to care about the other's money! Yours will always be the exception.

Perfectly said ... in my opinion, in this discussion, people forgot to mention donations, because this is exactly the option when you play with the tax system and get public approval. I'm pretty sure that the article that the OP refers to misses this aspect, so the figures of taxes paid by these guys may differ significantly from reality (charity is actually one of the forms of taxes).