Disclosure report Bezos, Musk and Co. hardly paid any taxes

As of: 06/09/2021 05:04 a.m.

A new report reveals that the richest Americans hardly pay any income tax – among them Amazon founder Bezos and Tesla boss Musk. The tax authority wants to determine how the confidential data became public. By Torsten Teichmann, ARD studio Washington In 2007, multibillionaire Jeff Bezos didn’t pay a dime in US income tax. In 2011, too, the Amazon founder offset his income against losses so much that the US tax authority IRS granted him an income-related child allowance of 4,000 US dollars. This had often been speculated about. But now the numbers are known. The foundation for investigative journalism ProPublica quotes from Bezos tax return. These tax tricks are not illegal. But the network of loopholes and discounts remains denied to most Americans due to lack of assets. They move from salary to salary, as US President Joe Biden complains time and again: “Sometimes I argue with friends in the Democratic Party about it: It’s okay to be a billionaire or a millionaire, but pay your fair share.”

What tax amounts are fair for the rich?

But how much should the top 0.01 percent in the US contribute financially to society? There is a dispute about this. The ProPublica report rekindles this debate. The foundation has obtained official tax documents from thousands of the richest Americans, says the journalist Jesse Eisinger involved in the NPR radio station. They cover a period of 15 years. ProPublica initially refers to the reported income from the tax returns of the 25 richest Americans and the increase in wealth over the period that is not taxed. In addition to Bezos, Tesla founder Elon Musk, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and New York’s ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be there.

If we look at the actual tax on capital growth – which is essentially your income – then its tax rate is 3.4 percent. For people like Jeff Bezos or Warren Buffet, it’s even less.

Far from the top tax rate of 37 percent

The investor Warren Buffet paid 0.1 percent tax on income and asset growth between 2014 and 2018, ProPublica calculates. At Bezos it is just under one percent. Americans pay an average of 14 percent income tax. The top tax rate would be 37 percent. America’s billionaires are far from that. The Biden administration reacted cautiously to the findings. Any unauthorized publication of government documents is against the law, said Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The Ministry of Finance is trying to clarify how the tax returns have come to the public.

Generally speaking, we know that more needs to be done to ensure that businesses and high-income citizens do more of their fair share. This is what the President says in his proposals, in his budget, and this is how he wants to pay for his proposals. A government proposal provides for higher taxes for households with an annual income of more than $ 400,000. According to the ProPublica report, however, it is completely unclear whether a corresponding reform will generate additional income as long as the loopholes in the tax laws of the USA are not closed.