Puny tax rates for the mega-rich
America’s 25 richest people allegedly paid a “true tax rate” of just 3.4% between 2014 and 2018 according to leaked data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), compared to the 14% paid by the median American household and the 37% rate currently paid by those on incomes of $523,600 (£376k) or more.
The statistics were revealed by ProPublica, after the non-profit news organisation calculated “true tax rates” by comparing federal income tax paid by each billionaire between 2014 and 2018 to their respective change in net worth over the same period, as recorded by Forbes. The 25 billionaires, including investment firm Berkshire Hathaway's founder Warren Buffett and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, saw their collective wealth increase by $401 billion (£288bn) over those five years, but between them they only paid $13.6 billion (£9.8bn) in federal income taxes. Click or scroll throught to find out more about the investigation and the super-rich who want to pay MORE tax.
Daniel Coughlin
09 June 2021
Features
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