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From the link in sibling thread: His tax avoidance is even more striking if you examine 2006 to 2018, a period for which ProPublica has complete data. Bezos’ w

From the link in sibling thread: His tax avoidance is even more striking if you examine 2006 to 2018, a period for which ProPublica has complete data. Bezos’ wealth increased by $127 billion, according to Forbes, but he reported a total of $6.5 billion in income. The $1.4 billion he paid in personal federal taxes is a massive number — yet it amounts to a 1.1% true tax rate on the rise in his fortune. Why should we ignore these 13 years over which Bezos made $127B? Who would benefit from that?

AmericanChopper 5y ago
Because the wealth of Jeff Bezos according to Forbes is just the amount of Amazon shares he owns, multiplied by the price of the stock on whatever day it was that somebody at Forbes decided to work out how much he was worth. Bezos, just like you and I, pays tax on his income. He only gets taxable income from the value of his Amazon shares when he sells them, which like most founders, he doesn’t do very frequently. You’re literally just getting upset at him for not liquidating his entire position of Amazon shares (or options) every year. If he ever wants to turn the theoretical number some Forbes intern came up with for his net worth into income, then he’ll have to pay tax on it. He could theoretically live the rest of his life without selling his shares if he wanted to, just like you or I never have to sell any shares, or property, or any other type of asset we own. However if he did that, the IRS is going to come and take the tax he owes from his estate. There is no tax evasion taking place here, this isn’t even a loophole. It’s the same treatment everybody gets. You don’t have to sell your assets if you don’t want to, and you don’t make a taxable profit from selling your assets… unless you sell them. The propublica article you’re quoting is designed entirely to rage-bait people who don’t want to think about the topic long enough to figure that very basic fact out.
- jessaustin 5y ago
  I am not "upset". Since there is no literate reading of this thread that would yield such a conclusion, I suspect you might be projecting... I don't claim this is tax evasion. ProPublica didn't claim this is tax evasion: "Certainly, there are illegal tax evaders among them, but it turns out billionaires don’t have to evade taxes exotically and illicitly — they can avoid them routinely and legally." When rich people write laws, they usually don't write laws they'll need to violate. Since most people don't own billions of dollars worth of shares in giant firms, this "treatment" is certainly not what "everybody gets". Not even the billionaires' most ardent online white knights get this treatment.

AmericanChopper 5y ago

Because the wealth of Jeff Bezos according to Forbes is just the amount of Amazon shares he owns, multiplied by the price of the stock on whatever day it was that somebody at Forbes decided to work out how much he was worth. Bezos, just like you and I, pays tax on his income. He only gets taxable income from the value of his Amazon shares when he sells them, which like most founders, he doesn’t do very frequently. You’re literally just getting upset at him for not liquidating his entire position of Amazon shares (or options) every year. If he ever wants to turn the theoretical number some Forbes intern came up with for his net worth into income, then he’ll have to pay tax on it. He could theoretically live the rest of his life without selling his shares if he wanted to, just like you or I never have to sell any shares, or property, or any other type of asset we own. However if he did that, the IRS is going to come and take the tax he owes from his estate. There is no tax evasion taking place here, this isn’t even a loophole. It’s the same treatment everybody gets. You don’t have to sell your assets if you don’t want to, and you don’t make a taxable profit from selling your assets… unless you sell them. The propublica article you’re quoting is designed entirely to rage-bait people who don’t want to think about the topic long enough to figure that very basic fact out.

jessaustin 5y ago
I am not "upset". Since there is no literate reading of this thread that would yield such a conclusion, I suspect you might be projecting... I don't claim this is tax evasion. ProPublica didn't claim this is tax evasion: "Certainly, there are illegal tax evaders among them, but it turns out billionaires don’t have to evade taxes exotically and illicitly — they can avoid them routinely and legally." When rich people write laws, they usually don't write laws they'll need to violate. Since most people don't own billions of dollars worth of shares in giant firms, this "treatment" is certainly not what "everybody gets". Not even the billionaires' most ardent online white knights get this treatment.