Previous discussion of this ProPublica story rightly pointed out that there was too much focus on billionaires (legally) not paying taxes while their assets are

Previous discussion of this ProPublica story rightly pointed out that there was too much focus on billionaires (legally) not paying taxes while their assets are appreciating (but not yet sold), and not enough focus on the fact that often taxes aren't even eventually paid (a grey area mix of legal/illegal). From the original ProPublica article [0]: >It’s clear, though, from aggregate IRS data, tax research and what little trickles into the public arena about estate planning of the wealthy that they can readily escape turning over almost half of the value of their estates. Many of the richest create foundations for philanthropic giving, which provide large charitable tax deductions during their lifetimes and bypass the estate tax when they die. >Wealth managers offer clients a range of opaque and complicated trusts that allow the wealthiest Americans to give large sums to their heirs without paying estate taxes. The IRS data obtained by ProPublica gives some insight into the ultrawealthy’s estate planning, showing hundreds of these trusts. Other folks pointed out other examples of charitable self-dealing, where a wealthy person may give their money to a foundation, and then travel the world on behalf of the foundation, or have the foundation pay for family-owned businesses to do work under contract, etc. Some pointed out that there are laws against this sort of thing, other folks pointed out that enforcement of those laws is rare and difficult. So, should we step up efforts to try to enforce today's rules that haven't seemed workable in the past? Or do you want to do the easy thing and have a wealth tax on things like securities? 0: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trov...