From Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett, new details have emerged about how little tax US billionaires actually pay.
News website ProPublica has reportedly viewed the tax returns of America’s wealthiest individuals… with the White House saying the leak is “illegal” and the FBI is now investigating.
The website makes allegations that Bezos paid no tax in 2007 and 2011, whilst Musk paid nothing in 2018.
A White House spokeswoman called the leak “illegal”, and the FBI and tax authorities are investigating.
It’s also believed that the top 25 richest Americans each pay less tax than the average US worker.
ProRepublica says it will continue to analyse a “vast trove of Internal Revenue Service data” on the taxes of the billionaires, and promises to release further details later in the week.
The news site goes onto add “using perfectly legal tax strategies, many of the uber-rich are able to shrink their federal tax bills to nothing or close to it.”
Biden’s plan to raise tax for tech giants
President Joe Biden has vowed to increase tax on the richest Americans.
He wants to raise the top rate of tax, double the tax on what high earners make from investments, and change inheritance tax.
25 richest Americans collectively jumped by $401bn from 2014 to 2018, but they paid $13.6bn in income tax over those years, according to ProPublica.
"Netflix was supposedly generating $1B in revenue in Aus last year, and they paid just over $550,000 in tax"
— ticker NEWS (@tickerNEWSco) June 9, 2021
Justin Joffe from @flux_finance on the #G7 global tax rate increase for tech giants
Do you want to see an increase in their tax?
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