USA: Super rich celebrities do not pay any income tax

The report states that in 2007 and 2011 Bezos did not pay a single percent of the income tax, and in 2018 Musk avoided all income tax payments. Billionaire and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, investor Carl Icon and philanthropist and investor George Soros are among those who have used tax evasion strategies on a large scale. Investigative journalists did not disclose how they obtained the secret tax data.

American celebrities benefit from the tax system

The report says that rich celebrities have benefited from the definition of taxable income in the United States. For example, U.S. tax law does not take into account the growing value of assets such as stocks or real estate. Tax will be paid only on the sale of such assets.

The report said the research “destroys the basic myth of the American tax system: everyone pays their fair share, and rich Americans pay more.” A Soros spokesman told PropAblica that the investor would not have to pay any income tax between 2016 and 2018 because he made losses on his investments. Bloomberg and Icon told the media that they had paid all the taxes they owed. The offices of Bezos, Kasturi, Bloomberg, Icon and Soros initially did not respond to AFP news agency inquiries.

The super rich need more taxation

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote on the online service Twitter in response to Problica Research: “Our tax system has been cut off for billionaires who do not earn their wealth from income as working families do.” The United States needed a tax on the rich so that “the super-rich should finally pay their fair share,” he added. Warren has long campaigned for higher taxes for the super-rich, which should include assets such as stocks and real estate.

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced an investigation into the revelations. “It is illegal to publish confidential government information in an unauthorized manner,” a ministry spokesman for AFP said. The matter was referred to the Treasury Inspector General and to the FBI and the Federal Attorney in Washington.

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